RESUMO
Guttaviridae is a family of enveloped viruses infecting hyperthermophilic archaea. The virions are ovoid or droplet-shaped, with a diameter of 55-80 nm and a length of 75-130 nm. The genome is a circular dsDNA molecule of around 14-20 kbp. The droplet-shaped morphology is unprecedented among viruses of bacteria and eukaryotes and represents a group of archaea-specific virion morphotypes. The family includes two genera, Alphaguttavirus and Betaguttavirus, each with a single species. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the taxonomy of Guttaviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/guttaviridae.
Assuntos
Archaea/virologia , Bacteriófagos/classificação , Guttaviridae/classificação , Bacteriófagos/genética , Bacteriófagos/isolamento & purificação , Bacteriófagos/ultraestrutura , Genoma Viral , Guttaviridae/genética , Guttaviridae/isolamento & purificação , Guttaviridae/ultraestrutura , Vírion/classificação , Vírion/genética , Vírion/isolamento & purificação , Vírion/ultraestrutura , Replicação ViralRESUMO
The crenarchaeote Sulfolobus spp. is a host for a remarkably large spectrum of viruses and plasmids. The genetic elements characterized so far indicate a large degree of novelty in terms of morphology (viruses) and in terms of genome content (plasmids and viruses). The viruses and conjugative plasmids encode a great number of conserved proteins of unknown function due to the lack of sequence similarity to functionally characterized proteins. These apparently essential proteins remain to be studied and should help to understand the physiology and genetics of the respective genetic elements as well as the host. Sulfolobus is one of the best-studied archaeons and could develop into an important model organism of the crenarchaea and the archaea.
