Increasing the number of available ranks in virus taxonomy from five to ten and adopting the Baltimore classes as taxa at the basal rank

This opinion article makes a case for increasing the number of ranks used in virus taxonomy from the current five to ten (as are used to classify cellular life forms) and placing the Baltimore classes in the proposed basal rank of domain. These suggestions aim at initiating the process of accommodation of Baltimore classes in virus taxonomy and extension of the virus taxonomy scale to encompass also the most distant relationships.