ICTV Report

Family: Leisingerviridae (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 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.

CharacteristicDescription
ExampleMethanobacterium phage psiM2 (AF065411), species Psimunavirus psiM2, genus Psimunavirus
VirionIcosahedral capsid with a diameter of approximately 55 nm and a non-contractile tail of approximately 210 nm (siphoviral morphology)
GenomeLinear, double-stranded DNA of 26 kbp, circularly-permuted, terminally redundant
Host rangeIsolated from Methanothermobacter marburgensis
TaxonomyRealm 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.