RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Genomic, proteomic, and phylogenetic analysis of spounaviruses indicates paraphyly of the order <em>Caudovirales</em>
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 220434
DO 10.1101/220434
A1 Barylski, Jakub
A1 Enault, François
A1 Dutilh, Bas E.
A1 Schuller, Margo B.P.
A1 Edwards, Robert A.
A1 Gillis, Annika
A1 Klumpp, Jochen
A1 Knezevic, Petar
A1 Krupovic, Mart
A1 Kuhn, Jens H.
A1 Lavigne, Rob
A1 Oksanen, Hanna M.
A1 Sullivan, Matthew B.
A1 Wittmann, Johannes
A1 Tolstoy, Igor
A1 Brister, J. Rodney
A1 Kropinski, Andrew M.
A1 Adriaenssens, Evelien M
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/11/16/220434.abstract
AB Since the mid-20th century, prokaryotic double-stranded DNA viruses producing tailed particles (“tailed phages”) were grouped according to virion tail morphology. In the early 1980s, these viruses were classified into the families Myoviridae, Siphoviridae, and Podoviridae, later included in the order Caudovirales. However, recent massive sequencing of prokaryotic virus genomes revealed that caudovirads are extremely diverse. The official taxonomic framework does not adequately reflect caudovirad evolutionary relationships. Here, we reevaluate the classification of caudovirads using a particularly challenging group of viruses with large dsDNA genomes: SPO1-like viruses associated with the myovirid subfamily Spounavirinae. Our extensive genomic, proteomic, and phylogenetic analyses reveal that some of the currently established caudovirad taxa, especially at the family and subfamily rank, can no longer be supported. Spounavirins alone need to be elevated to family rank and divided into at least five major clades, a first step in an impending massive reorganization of caudovirad taxonomy.