Family: Halomagnusviridae (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
Summary
The family Halomagnusviridae includes double-stranded DNA viruses with icosahedral capsids and contractile helical tails, infecting hyperhalophilic archaea of the class Halobacteria (Table 1.Halmagnusviridae). The family was assigned to the realm Duplodnaviria and included in the class Caudoviricetes in 2022 (Master Species List 37).
Table 1.Halomagnusviridae. Characteristics of members of the family Halomagnusviridae.
| Characteristic | Description |
| Example | Halogranum tailed virus 1 (KC292026), species Hagravirus HGTV1, genus Hagravirus |
| Virion | Icosahedral capsid with a contractile helical tail (myoviral morphology) |
| Genome | Linear, double-stranded DNA genome of 144 kbp |
| Replication | Lytic |
| Translation | Prokaryotic translation using viral mRNA and host ribosomes. Halogranum tailed virus 1 encodes 36 tRNAs for all universal genetic code amino acids |
| Host range | Halophilic members of the Archaea. Replicates in Halogranum sp. SS5-1 |
| Taxonomy | Realm Duplodnaviria, kingdom Heunggongvirae, phylum Uroviricota, class Caudoviricetes, order Thumleimavirales: 1 genus and 1 species |
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| Figure 1.Halomagnusviridae. Genome organisation of a member of the family Halomagnusviridae. Boxes indicate open reading frames as annotated on GenBank accession KC292026. |
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| Figure 2.Halomagnusviridae. Relationships of the taxa connected to the family Halomagnusviridae. |
Derivation of name
Halomagnusviridae: from halophilic and magnus, the Latin word for large, referring to the fact that Halogranum tailed virus 1 has by far the largest genome among known haloarchaeal viruses.