Distinguishing features

Members of this subfamily infect Bacillus sp. including B. cereus and B. subtilis. Virus genomes are of 132–146 kbp and have long terminal repeats.

Derivation of names

Spounavirinae – derived from Bacillus phage SPO1 (i.e. spo and una, meaning one), the first recognised isolate of this subfamily.

Genus demarcation criteria

The Spounavirinae genera are well-supported monophyletic clades in genome-based phylogenies and in (concatenated) marker gene phylogenies. Members of the genera share at least 60% nucleotide identity across the genome length. The genome organisation is conserved. Members of the same genus generally infect members of the same bacterial genus.

Member taxa