In the 1940s the development of the electron microscope permitted individual virus particles to be seen for the first time, leading to the classification of viruses and giving insight into their structure.
Eventually, it is likely that the classification of viruses will be based on their nucleotide sequences and their mode of replication rather than on structural components, as is now the case.
The classification of viruses is very useful, and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is the official body that classifies viruses into order, family, genus, and species taxa.
The classification of viruses, viroids, prions, and all other sub-viral agents that demonstrate biological characteristics is conducted by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) and is known as the International Code of Viral Classification and Nomenclature (ICVCN).
In the first case, the use of microchip and micro-fluidics technology is used for determination of nucleotide sequences of HA and NA needed for the classification of viruses [14].ore commonly, hybridization microchips use sets of immobilized oligonucleotide probes that form complexes with virus-specific cDNA tagged with, for instance, a fluorescent label [9], [13], [17], [21], [22].
