We present an expansion of the classification of the family Papillomaviridae, which now contains 29 genera formed by 189 papillomavirus (PV) types isolated from humans (120 types), non-human mammals, birds and reptiles (64, 3 and 2 types, respectively). To accommodate the number of PV genera exceeding the Greek alphabet, the prefix "dyo" is used, continuing after the Omega-PVs with Dyodelta-PVs. The current set of human PVs is contained within five genera, whereas mammalian, avian and reptile PVs are contained within 20, 3 and 1 genera, respectively. We propose standardizations to the names of a number of animal PVs. As prerequisite for a coherent nomenclature of animal PVs, we propose founding a reference center for animal PVs. We discuss that based on emerging species concepts derived from genome sequences, PV types could be promoted to the taxonomic level of species, but we do not recommend implementing this change at the current time.

The Papillomaviridae is a family of small, non-enveloped viruses with double-stranded DNA genomes of 5 748 to 8 607 bp. Their classification is based on pairwise nucleotide sequence identity across the L1 open reading frame. Members of the Papillomaviridae primarily infect mucosal and keratinised epithelia, and have been isolated from fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. Despite a long co-evolutionary history with their hosts, some papillomaviruses are pathogens of their natural host species. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the taxonomy of the Papillomaviridae, which is available at http://www.ictv.global/report/papillomaviridae.

The goal of the Papillomavirus Episteme (PaVE) is to provide an integrated resource for the analysis of papillomavirus (PV) genome sequences and related information. The PaVE is a freely accessible, web-based tool (http://pave.niaid.nih.gov) created around a relational database, which enables storage, analysis and exchange of sequence information. From a design perspective, the PaVE adopts an Open Source software approach and stresses the integration and reuse of existing tools. Reference PV genome sequences have been extracted from publicly available databases and reannotated using a custom-created tool. To date, the PaVE contains 241 annotated PV genomes, 2245 genes and regions, 2004 protein sequences and 47 protein structures, which users can explore, analyze or download. The PaVE provides scientists with the data and tools needed to accelerate scientific progress for the study and treatment of diseases caused by PVs.