Rhabdoviridae is a family of Negative-sense RNA viruses that includes vesicular stomatitis virus. Many particles have a characteristic bullet-like or rod-like form with a viral envelope, but neither that shape nor an envelope is universal across the family. The official report also distinguishes the common single-molecule genome from members with two or three segments.[ref]
Rhabdoviridae report by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Summary and Table 1, morphology and genome organization
The family illustrates why a useful example must not become an absolute definition. Recognizing a bullet-shaped particle supplies structural evidence; classification also uses genome organization and phylogenetics. Different members infect animals or plants, so one host or transmission pattern cannot stand for all of them.[ref]
Rhabdoviridae report by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Summary, host range and sequence-based relationships
A classic mechanistic experiment used vesicular stomatitis virus. In 1970, researchers detected particle-associated RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity that generated RNA complementary to the viral genome.[ref]
Ribonucleic acid synthesis of vesicular stomatitis virus, II. An RNA polymerase in the virion by D. Baltimore and others. Abstract, carried polymerase and complementary product
This supported an explanation of how an incoming negative-sense genome can initiate transcription, rather than assuming that its genomic RNA is already an ordinary protein-coding message. Articles by others on the same topic
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