Book: Shortaselviridae
Family: Shortaselviridae (Interim Report)
This is a summary page created by the ICTV Report Editors using information from associated Taxonomic Proposals and the Master Species List.
Edited by: Mart Krupovic
Posted: April 2023, updated December 2024
Summary
The family Shortaselviridae includes lytic, double-stranded DNA viruses that infect the hyperhalophilic archaeon Haloarcula sinaiiensis (Table 1 Shortaselviridae). The family Shortaselviridae was established in 2022 (Master Species List 37).
Table 1 Shortaselviridae. Characteristics of members of the family Shortaselviridae.
| Characteristic | Description |
| Example | Haloarcula sinaiiensis tailed virus 1 (KC117378), species Lonfivirus codicilli, genus Lonfivirus |
| Virion | Icosahedral capsid of 60 nm in diameter and short tail of 50 nm in length (podovirus-like morphology) (Figure 1 Shortaselviridae) |
| Genome | Linear, dsDNA genome of 32 kbp, circularly permuted (Figure 2 Shortaselviridae) |
| Host range | Hyperhalophilic archaea of the species Haloarcula sinaiiensis |
| Taxonomy | Realm Duplodnaviria, kingdom Heunggongvirae, phylum Uroviricota, class Caudoviricetes, order Kirjokansivirales: 1 genus and 1 species (Figure 3 Shortaselviridae) |
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| Figure 1 Shortaselviridae. (Left) Electron micrograph of Haloarcula sinaiiensis tailed virus 1. Bar 100 nm. Image from Luk et al., (2014) "Viruses of haloarchaea." Life (Basel) 4:681–715 under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. (Right) Schematic of virion. Image from ViralZone under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, credit: SwissBioPics. |
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| Figure 2 Shortaselviridae. Genome organisation of Haloarcula sinaiiensis tailed virus 1, a member of the family Shortaselviridae. Boxes indicate open reading frames as annotated on GenBank accession KC117378. |
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| Figure 3 Shortaselviridae. Relationships of the taxa connected to the family Shortaselviridae. |
Derivation of name
Shortaselviridae: referring to short tail and sel, the French word for salt.