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Volume 27, Number 6—June 2021
Online Report

Proposal for Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus Nomenclature below the Species Level

Vahid Salimi, Mariana Viegas1, Alfonsina Trento1, Charles N. Agoti, Larry J. Anderson, Vasanthi Avadhanula, Justin Bahl, Louis Bont, J. Rodney Brister, Patricia A. Cane, Mónica Galiano, Barney S. Graham, Eneida L. Hatcher, Orienka Hellferscee, David M. Henke, Siddhivinayak Hirve, Sandra Jackson, Els Keyaerts, Leyla Kragten-Tabatabaie, Stephen Lindstrom, Inne Nauwelaers, D. James Nokes, Peter J. Openshaw, Teresa C. Peret, Pedro A. Piedra, Kaat Ramaekers, Annabel Rector, Nídia Sequeira Trovão, Anne von Gottberg, Maria Zambon, Wenqing Zhang, Thomas C. Williams, Ian G. Barr2Comments to Author , and Ursula J. Buchholz2Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (V. Salimi); Hospital de Niños Dr. Ricardo Gutiérrez, Buenos Aires, Argentina (M. Viegas); National Center of Biotechnology, Madrid, Spain (A. Trento); KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya (C.N. Agoti, D.J. Nokes); Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (L.J. Anderson); Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA (V. Avadhanula, D.M. Henke, P.A. Piedra); University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA (J. Bahl); University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands (L. Bont); National Center for Biotechnology Information, Bethesda, Maryland, USA (J.R. Brister, E.L. Hatcher); Public Health England, London, UK (P.A. Cane, M. Galiano, I. Nauwelaers, M. Zambon); Francis Crick Institute, London (M. Galiano); National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda (B.S. Graham, U.J. Buchholz); National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa (O. Hellferscee, A. von Gottberg); W; orld Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (S. Hirve, S. Jackson, W. Zhang); University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (E. Keyaerts); ReSViNET Foundation, Zeist, the Netherlands (L. Kragten-Tabatabaie); Julius Clinical, Zeist (L. Kragten-Tabatabaie); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta (S. Lindstrom, T. Peret); Imperial College London, London (I. Nauwelaers, P. Openshaw); Rega Institute, Leuven (K. Ramaekers, A. Rector); Fogarty International Center, Bethesda (N. Sequeira Trovão); University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (T.C. Williams); Peter Doherty Institute for Infection & Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (I. Barr)

Main Article

Table

Widely accepted nomenclature for HRSV genes and proteins and gene annotation of strains HRSV A2 and HRSV B1*

Gene or genome region
 Proteins
 Open reading frame genome position, nt
Annotation† Genome position, nt†
Strain A2‡ Strain B1¶ Annotation Abbreviation Strain A2 Strain B1
Leader region
 1–44
 1–44
NS1 45–576 45–577 Nonstructural protein 1 NS1 99–518 99–518
NS2
 596–1098
 594–1098
Nonstructural protein 2
 NS2
628–1002
 626–1000
N 1126–2328 1125–2327 Nucleoprotein N 1141–2316 1140–2315
P 2330–3243 2331–3244 Phosphoprotein P 2347–3072 2348–3073
M 3253–4210 3254–4208 Matrix protein M 3262–4032 3263–4033
SH 4220–4629 4218–4630 Small hydrophobic protein SH 4304–4498 4303–4500
G 4674–5596 4675–5600 Attachment glycoprotein G 4689–5585 4690–5589
F
 5649–7551
 5653–7552
Fusion glycoprotein
 F
5662–7386
 7666–7390
M2
 7598–8558
 7609–8568
Matrix protein 2
Matrix protein M2–1 M2–1 7607–8191 7618–8205
Matrix protein M2–2
 M2–2
8160–8432
 8171–8443
L
 8491–15068
 8501–15080
Polymerase protein
 L
8499–14996
 8509–15009
Trailer region 15069–15223 15081–15225

*HRSV, human respiratory syncytial virus.
†Nucleotide annotations for leader and trailer region, and for indicated HRSV genes from the first nucleotide of the gene start signal [GGGGCAAAT(A/G); GGAGCAAAAT in case of the L gene] through the last adenosine residue of the gene end signal [AGT(T/A)A(T/A/G)(A/T)(A/T)(A/T)An].
‡HRSV/A/USA/A2/2015 (45); GenBank accession number KT992094.
¶HRSV/B/USA/B1/1985/B1 (46); GenBank accession number AF013254.1.

Main Article

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1These authors contributed equally to this article.

2These last authors contributed equally to this article.

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