Hepadnaviridae

Baltimore Classification

Higher order taxa

Virus; Retro-transcribing viruses; Hepadnaviridae

Genera

Orthohepadnavirus, Avihepadnavirus

Genome Structure

The Hepadnaviridae genome is non-segmented and consists of a single molecule of circular, partially double-stranded DNA that forms a covalently closed circle. The full-length strand of DNA is 3020-3320 nucleotides long, and the short-length strand is 1700-2800 nucleotides long. (source: ICTVdB)

Virion Structure of a Hepadnavirus

Hepadnaviridae virions consist of an envelope and a nucleocapsid, and are 40-48nm in diameter. The virions are spherical or pleomorphic, although filamentous forms can occur. Spherical forms without cores can also occur. The nucleocapsid is round, exhibits icosahedral symmetry, and is 30-35nm in diameter. The capsid consists of 180 capsomers. (source: ICTVdB)

References

ICTVdB - The Universal Virus Database, version 3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/ICTVdB/