Taxonomy of bacterial viruses: establishment of tailed virus genera and the other Caudovirales
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Virology Division News Arch Virol 143/10 (1998)
2051
Virology Division News
Taxonomy of bacterial viruses: establishment of tailed virus genera and the order Caudovirales J. Maniloff 1 and H.-W. Ackermann 2 1
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, U.S.A. 2 Félix d’Hérelle Reference Center for Bacterial Viruses, Département de Biologie Médicale, Université Laval, Faculté de Médecine, Cité Universitaire, Québec, Canada
Summary. Bacterial viruses have been classified into 13 families and 1 unassigned genus. A new order, Caudovirales, has now been established, comprising the three families of tailed bacterial viruses, based on similarities in tailed virus morphology, replication, and assembly. In addition, genera have been established for some species in each tailed virus family, based on properties involving viral DNA replication and packaging, and on some features specific to particular genera (e.g., DNA-termini linked proteins, virus-encoded polymerases, and ability to establish temperate infections). At present, there are six genera in the family Myoviridae (viruses with contractile tails), six in the family Siphoviridae (viruses with long, noncontractile tails), and three in the family Podoviridae (viruses with short noncontractile tails). In recognition that the definitions of tailed virus genera represent a “work in progress” and to keep the nomenclature flexible, tailed virus genera have been assigned vernacular names based on their type species. Introduction Over the past three decades, the Bacterial Virus Subcommittee of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) has developed a taxonomic system for bacterial viruses. “Bacterial virus” is used here as a generic term for viruses infecting hosts in the domains Bacteria and Archaea. The Bacterial Virus Subcommittee usually has consisted of 15–20 members, representing different specialities in bacterial virology, and a variety of ad hoc study groups formed to examine specific issues and formulate taxonomic proposals. Subcommittee organization and international membership have provided input from many bacterial virologists, and led to an evolving taxonomy paralleling advances in viral molecular biology and phylogeny. The classification and nomenclature of bacterial viruses is reviewed in regularly published ICTV Reports, most recently in 1995 [27]. The latest compilation of bacterial viruses (data up to 1995) includes 4551 published descriptions, with 96% being tailed viruses [1]. A small fraction of these viruses have been characterized in sufficient detail to allow their classification into 13 families and 1 unas-
Virology Division News
2052
signed genus (Table 1). This taxonomy is reviewed and updated here to include ICTV decisions as of spring 1998. The ICTV recently established the order Caudovirales, comprising the three families of bacterial tailed viruses: the families Myoviridae (viruses with contractile tails), Siphoviridae (viruses with long, nonc
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