Subfamily: Bastillevirinae

Genus: Tsarbombavirus

Distinguishing features

There are only two species in this genus – Tsarbombavirus BCP78 and Tsarbombavirus tsarbomba. No terminal repeats have been reported for tsarbombavirus genomes. The genome of Bacillus phage TsarBomba is 162 486 bp with  247 protein coding sequences as well as 18 encoded tRNAs (Erill and Caruso 2015a). Members of the genus infect Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis.

Species demarcation criteria

Members of the same species are more than 95% identical in genome nucleotide sequence, including the terminal repeat region. Phages with genomes that differ by more than 5% are assigned to different species.