The Big Picture Book of Viruses: Filoviridae

Host: Taxon infects vertebrates.

Genome: Linear; single stranded; RNA. Genome monopartite. Genomic nucleic acid negative sense; not infectious. Total genome 19000 nucleotides long. Nucleotide sequences of 3'-terminus complementary to similar regions on the 5' end; conserved nucleotide sequences; the same in genera of same family.

Morphology: Virions pleomorphic in shape; filamentous (either branched (sometimes extensively), or simple, circular, 6- or U-shaped,), or spheroidal (and uniform in size after purification by gradient centrifugation). Virions one type of particle only. Virions enveloped; greatly variable up to 1400 nm long, or 790-970 nm long (after purification); about 80 nm in diameter. Surface projections of envelope distinct; spikes (of 7 nm length); dispersed evenly over all the surface (at 10 nm intervals). Nucleocapsids filamentous (tubular); cross-banded; 50 nm in diameter. Symmetry helical. Pitch of helix 5 nm. Nucleocapsid has a dark central axis of 20 nm that appears to be the ribonucleic protein (RNP). The axial channel is about 10-15 nm in diameter.

(Note: for more information about the taxonomy and structure of this virus, see the ICTV database below.)

Filoviridae Images:
Family	Genus	EM Images	Example Virus Name	Description of Image
Filoviridae	Filovirus		Marburg virus	Marburg virus pictured between two human liver cells at 75,000 x magnification. Electron micrograph courtesy of Dr. F.A. Murphy, UC Davis.
			(Ebola virus Reston)	Electron micrograph of Ebola Reston (Virginia) virus provided by Dr. Art Anderson and modified to include a few monkey images on the viral surface. This image is a "gag", but based on a real image of Ebola-Reston.
			Ebola virus Reston	Electron micrograph of Ebola Reston (Virginia) virus provided by Dr. Art Anderson at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. This and the following two images are from a paper "Pathology of Experimental Ebola Virus Infection in African Green Monkeys, Involvement of Fibroblastic Reticular Cells." by K. Davis, T. Geisbert and A. Anderson.
			Ebola virus Zaire	Ebola virus Zaire Electron micrograph of Ebola Zaire virus taken at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
			Ebola virus Zaire	Electron micrograph of Ebola Zaire virus. This is the first photo ever taken,on 10/13/76 by Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at UC Davis, then at CDC.