Family: Plectroviridae

Genus: Plectrovirus

Distinguishing features

Virions are 70–90 nm long and 14-16 nm in diameter. Virions are resistant to non-ionic detergents and ether, but sensitive to chloroform. The host is Acholeplasma laidlawii and virions adhere to protein-lipoglycane molecules (Al-Shammari and Smith 1982). On bacterial lawns Acholeplasma phage MV-L1 can form turbid plaques 0.5−6 mm in diameter.

Virion

See discussion under family description. 

Genome organisation and replication

See discussion under family description. 

Biology

Members of the genus infect Acholeplasma laidlawii. 

Species demarcation criteria

There is only one species in the genus. Phages of the same species share >95% DNA sequence similarity (identity × query coverage) and significant amino-acid sequence similarity of the adhesion protein (CoaA).