Classification of Vibrio Bacteriophages

Abstract

Eighty-five Vibrio phages, 84 of them tailed and 1 filamentous, were surveyed. The tailed phages belonged to 6 basic morphotypes and to the Myoviridae, Siphoviridae or Podoviridae families. 63 phages were classified into 18 spp. The filamentous phage is a member of the Inovirus genus of the Inoviridae family. Vibrio phages are very heterogenous and include some morphologically interesting viruses. Several Vibrio phages closely resemble phages of other gram-negative bacteria, possibly indicating phylogenetic relationships between their hosts.