Family: Herelleviridae

Genus: Elpedvirus

Distinguishing features

The genome of Lactobacillus phage LpeD, the exemplar isolate of Elpedvirus LpeD, the only known species in this genus, is 145 162 bp. No tRNAs or terminal repeats have been located. The only known member of the genus infects strains of Lactobacillus pentosus and Lactobacillus plantarum

Species demarcation criteria

There is only one species in the genus. New members of this species will be assigned based on their being more than 95% identical in genome nucleotide sequence, including the terminal repeat region. Phages with genomes that differ by more than 5% will be assigned to different species.