Introduction

Taxonomic Structure of the Family

Family	Siphoviridae
Genus	“-like Viruses“
Genus	“T1-like Viruses“
Genus	“T5-like Viruses“
Genus	“L5-like Viruses“
Genus	“c2-like Viruses“
Genus	“M1-like Viruses“

Distinguishing Features

Virions have long, noncontractile, thin tails (65?-570 7-10  nm) which are often flexible. Tails are built of stacked disks of 6 subunits. Heads and tails are assembled separately. Genera are differentiated by genome organization, mechanisms of DNA packaging and presence or absence of DNA polymerases.