Picornaviruses are a group of related nonenveloped RNA viruses which infect vertebrates including fish, mammals, and birds. They are viruses that represent a large family of small, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses with a 30 nm icosahedral capsid. The viruses in this family can cause a range of diseases including the common cold, poliomyelitis, meningitis, hepatitis, and paralysis.
Picornaviruses constitute the family Picornaviridae, order Picornavirales, and realm Riboviria. There are 158 species in this family, assigned to 68 genera. Notable examples are genera Enterovirus (including Rhinovirus and Poliovirus), Aphthovirus, Cardiovirus, and Hepatovirus.
The name "picornavirus" has a dual etymology. Firstly, the name derives from picorna- which is an acronym for "poliovirus, insensitivity to ether, coxsackievirus, orphan virus, rhinovirus, and ribonucleic acid". Secondly, the name derives from pico-, which designates a very small unit of measurement (equivalent to 10−12), combined with rna to describe this group of very small RNA viruses.
The first animal virus discovered (1897) was the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). It is the prototypic member of the genus Aphthovirus in the Picornaviridae family. The plaque assay was developed using poliovirus; the discovery of viral replication in culture was also with poliovirus in 1949. This was the first time that infectious virus had been produced in cultured cells. Polyprotein synthesis, internal ribosome entry sites, and uncapped mRNA were all discovered by studying poliovirus infected cells, and a poliovirus clone was the first infectious DNA clone made of an RNA virus in animals. Along with rhinovirus, poliovirus was the first animal virus to have its structure determined by x-ray crystallography. RNA dependent RNA polymerase was discovered in Mengovirus, a genus of picornaviruses.
Picornaviruses are nonenveloped, with an icosahedral capsid. The capsid is an arrangement of 60 protomers in a tightly packed icosahedral structure.