Paleovirus Nomenclature
We have applied a systematic approach to naming endogenous flavivirids (EFVs), following a convention developed for endogenous retroviruses. Each individual EFV locus was assigned a unique identifier (ID) constructed from several components, each of which refers to a property of the locus.
The first component is the classifier ‘EFV’ (endogenous flavivirid).
The second component is a composite of two distinct subcomponents separated by a period:
(i) the name of the EFV group;
(ii) a numeric ID that uniquely identifies the insertion. The numeric ID is an integer that identifies a unique insertion locus that arose as a consequence of an initial germline infection. Thus, orthologous copies in different species are given the same number.
The third component of the ID defines the set of host species in which the ortholog occurs.