Evolution and Virus Genomes

The diagram shows the generalized genome map for the picornavirus family. Virus genomes contain regions that are conserved and regions that are variable. Conserved regions of the genome have not changed much during evolution. Variable regions of the genome show much more sequence variability among viruses in the same family.

A segmented bar colored light and dark shades of green on the left side and light and dark blue on the right. The left end is labeled 5 prime and the right end is labeled with 5 letter A's and 3 prime. Each segment is labeled.