Subfamily: Bastillevirinae

Genus: Grisebachstrassevirus

Distinguishing features

The genome of Bacillus phage vB_BsuM-Goe3, the exemplar isolate of Grisebachstrassevirus goe3, the only species in the genus, is 156 430 bp with 236 unique predicted protein coding sequences (10 repeated twice in the 4954 bp redundant terminal regions) as well as 5 encoded tRNAs (Willms et al., 2017).

The only known member of the genus infects Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis. There are also some indications that strains of B. pumilus and licheniformis may be susceptible but available evidence comes only from turbidity reduction on solid media and require further investigation.

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.