Ampullaviridae

Baltimore Classification

Higher order taxa

Viruses; dsDNA viruses, no RNA stage; Ampullaviridae

Description and Significance

Ampullaviridae is a proposed family of crenarchaeal viruses. Ampullaviridae gets its name from the Latin "ampulla" for bottle because of the unique bottle-shaped morphology of the virions. Such a shape had not been previously observed in the viral world. In the Ampullaviridae, the complex morphotype of asymmetric virions, lacking elements of regular helical symmetry, with two completely different structures at each end and an envelope encasing a funnel-shaped core suggests that such a complex morphotype facilitates infection. There is only one isolate in the Ampullaviridae family. (sources: Häring et al., Ortmann et al.)

Genome Structure

The Ampullaviridae genome consists of linear, double-stranded DNA. The genome is 23,900 nucleotides long. (source: Häring et al.)

Virion Structure of an Ampullaviridae

Ampullaviridae have enveloped, bottle-shaped virons with a funnel-shaped core. Virions have an overall length of 210-250 nm, 70-80 nm wide at the broad end, and 3-5 nm wide at the pointed end. The broad end has thin filaments which are inserted into a disc or ring and are interconnected at the base of the virion. The filaments are arranged in a circle and are about 20 nm in length and 3 nm in width. (source: Häring et al.)

Viral Ecology & Pathology

The Ampullaviridae infect only Acidianus species. (source: Ortmann et al.)

References

Häring et al. "Viral Diversity in Hot Springs of Pozzuoli, Italy, and Characterization of a Unique Archaeal Virus, Acidianus Bottle-Shaped Virus, from a New Family, the Ampullaviridae." Journal of Virology 79.15 (2005): 9904–9911.

Ortmann et al. "Hot crenarchaeal viruses reveal deep evolutionary connections." Nature Reviews Microbiology 4 (2006): 520-528.