Analysis of Spounaviruses as a Case Study for the Overdue Reclassification of Tailed Phages


Barylski, Jakub, Enault, Francois, Dutilh, Bas E, Schuller, Margo BP, Edwards, Robert A, Gillis, Annika, Klumpp, Jochen, Knezevic, Petar, Krupovic, Mart, Kuhn, Jens H et al (show 11 more authors) (2020) Analysis of Spounaviruses as a Case Study for the Overdue Reclassification of Tailed Phages. SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY, 69 (1). pp. 110-123. ISSN 1063-5157, 1076-836X

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Abstract

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>It is almost a cliché that tailed bacteriophages of the order <jats:italic>Caudovirales</jats:italic> are the most abundant and diverse viruses in the world. Yet, their taxonomy still consists of a single order with just three families: <jats:italic>Myoviridae</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Siphoviridae</jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>Podoviridae</jats:italic>. Thousands of newly discovered phage genomes have recently challenged this morphology-based classification, revealing that tailed bacteriophages are genomically even more diverse than once thought. Here, we evaluate a range of methods for bacteriophage taxonomy by using a particularly challenging group as an example, the Bacillus phage SPO1-related viruses of the myovirid subfamily <jats:italic>Spounavirinae</jats:italic>. Exhaustive phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses indicate that the spounavirins are consistent with the taxonomic rank of family and should be divided into at least five subfamilies. This work is a case study for virus genomic taxonomy and the first step in an impending massive reorganization of the tailed bacteriophage taxonomy.</jats:p>

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Caudovirales, Herelleviridae, phylogenetics, phylogenomics, spounavirus, virus classification, virus taxonomy
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 16 Jan 2018 09:33
Last Modified: 07 Dec 2024 04:29
DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syz036
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syz036
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3016148
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