title: Unification of the globally distributed spindle-shaped viruses of the Archaea.
abstract: Viruses with spindle-shaped virions are abundant in diverse environments. Over the years, such viruses have been isolated from a wide range of archaeal hosts. Evolutionary relationships between them remained enigmatic, however. Here, using structural proteins as markers, we define familial ties among these "dark horses" of the virosphere and segregate all spindle-shaped viruses into two distinct evolutionary lineages, corresponding to Bicaudaviridae and Fuselloviridae. Our results illuminate the utility of structure-based virus classification and bring additional order to the virosphere.
authors: Institut Pasteur, Unité Biologie Moléculaire du Gène chez les Extrêmophiles, Département de Microbiologie, Paris, France.
authors: Mart
authors: M
authors: Krupovic
authors: Emmanuelle R J
authors: ER
authors: Quemin
authors: Dennis H
authors: DH
authors: Bamford
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Forterre
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Prangishvili
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000821:virology*; D023641:Archaeal Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D019241:Fuselloviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins