globuloviridae globuloviridae globuloviridae is a family of hyperthermophilic archaeal viruses. crenarchaea of the genera pyrobaculum and thermoproteus serve as natural hosts. there are four species in this family, assigned to a single genus, alphaglobulovirus. globuloviridae virus classification (unranked): virus realm: incertae sedis kingdom: incertae sedis phylum: incertae sedis class: incertae sedis order: incertae sedis family: globuloviridae genera alphaglobulovirus negative-contrast electron micrographs of virions of pyrobaculum spherical virus (psv, genus alphaglobulovirus). (left) intact virions; arrows indicate spherical protrusions. (right) partially disrupted virions extruding disordered nucleoprotein core. the bars represent 100 nm. modified from (häring et al., 2004; provided by ictv). taxonomy the family contains one genus which contains four species: alphaglobulovirus alphaglobulovirus psv alphaglobulovirus psv1 alphaglobulovirus tspv1 alphaglobulovirus ttsv1 structure virions in the globuloviridae are spherical and enveloped. the diameter is around 100 nm. genome organization of pyrobaculum spherical virus (psv) showing location, sizes and direction of putative genes. genomes are linear dsdna and non-segmented, around 20–30kb in length. genusstructuresymmetrycapsidgenomic arrangementgenomic segmentation alphaglobulovirussphericalenvelopedlinearmonopartite life cycle viral replication is cytoplasmic. dna-templated transcription is the method of transcription. pyrobaculum and thermoproteus archaea serve as the natural host. transmission routes are passive diffusion. genushost detailstissue tropismentry detailsrelease detailsreplication siteassembly sitetransmission alphaglobuloviruspyrobaculum and thermoproteus archaeanoneinjectionbuddingcytoplasmcytoplasmpassive diffusion