ICTV Report

Family: Leisingerviridae (interim)

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 Leisingerviridae includes lytic, double-stranded DNA viruses with icosahedral capsids and non-contractile helical tails, infecting methanogenic archaea of the order Methanobacteriales (Table 1.Leisingerviridae). The family was assigned to the realm Duplodnaviria and included in the class Caudoviricetes in 2022 (Master Species List 37).

Table 1.Leisingerviridae. Characteristics of members of the family Leisingerviridae.

Characteristic

Description

Example

Methanobacterium phage psiM2 (AF065411), species Psimunavirus psiM2, genus Psimunavirus

Virion

Icosahedral capsid with a diameter of approximately 55 nm and a non-contractile tail of approximately 210 nm (siphoviral morphology)

Genome

Linear, double-stranded DNA of 26 kbp, circularly-permuted, terminally redundant

Host range

Isolated from Methanothermobacter marburgensis

Taxonomy

Realm Duplodnaviria, kingdom Heunggongvirae, phylum Uroviricota, class Caudoviricetes, order Methanobavirales: 1 genus and 1 species
Leisingerviridae genome

Figure 1.Leisingerviridae. Genome organisation of a member of the family Leisingerviridae. Boxes indicate open reading frames as annotated on the GenBank accession AF065411.
Leisingerviridae taxonomy

Figure 2.Leisingerviridae. Relationships of the taxa connected to the family Leisingerviridae.

Derivation of name

Leisingerviridae: after Thomas Leisinger, who isolated the virus.