Book: Ungulaviridae
Family: Ungulaviridae (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, updated December 2024
Summary
The family Ungulaviridae includes dsDNA viruses infecting hyperthermophilic archaea of the genus Acidianus (Table 1 Ungulaviridae). The family was assigned to the realm Adnaviria in 2022 (Master Species List 37).
Table 1 Ungulaviridae. Characteristics of members of the family Ungulaviridae.
| Characteristic | Description |
| Example | Acidianus filamentous virus 1 (AJ567472), species Captovirus yellowstonense, genus Captovirus |
| Virion | Filamentous, flexible enveloped particle consisting of a nucleoprotein core with heterodimeric major capsid proteins, terminal claw-like structures (Figure 1 Ungulaviridae) |
| Genome | Linear, double-stranded DNA genome of 20 kbp (Figure 2 Ungulaviridae) |
| Host range | Hyperthermophilic archaea of the genus Acidianus |
| Taxonomy | Realm Adnaviria, kingdom Zilligvirae, phylum Taleaviricota, class Tokiviricetes, order Ligamenvirales: 1 genus and 1 species (Figure 3 Ungulaviridae) |
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| Figure 1 Ungulaviridae. (Left) Electron micrograph of virions of Acidianus filamentous virus 1. Bars 100 nm. Image from Peng et al., (2012) "Archaeal viruses--novel, diverse and enigmatic", Sci China Life Sci. 55:422-33 under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. (Right) Schematic of virion. Image from ViralZone under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, credit: SwissBioPics. |
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| Figure 2 Ungulaviridae. Genome organisation of Acidianus filamentous virus 1, a member of the family Ungulaviridae. Boxes indicate open reading frames as annotated on GenBank accession AJ567472. |
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| Figure 3 Ungulaviridae. Taxonomy of the family Ungulaviridae. |
Derivation of name
Ungulaviridae: from the Latin ungula, meaning "claw".