Birnaviruses are dsRNA viruses. This entry corresponds to the "palm" domain of the RNA dependent RNA polymerase, also known as VP1. All of the birnavirus VP1 proteins contain conserved RdRp motifs that reside in the catalytic "palm" domain of all classes of polymerases. However, the birnavirus RdRps lack the highly conserved Gly-Asp-Asp (GDD) sequence, a component of the proposed catalytic site of this enzyme family that exists in the conserved motif VI of the palm domain of other RdRps. The catalytic motifs are arranged in a permuted order in sequence.