Methanogens are the first-identified and probably bestcharacterized
members of the Archaea; however, reports of
their viruses are surprisingly sparse in the literature, with only
three different viruses described, one characterized in detail,
and ten viruses or proviruses reported. Viruses of methanogenic
Archaea have been isolated from anaerobic sludge digesters
(Meile et al. 1989; Nolling et al. 1993) and found in supernatants
of known cultures (Wood et al. 1989). It is unclear
whether this lack of published viruses is due to the low abundance
of viruses of Methanogens or insufficient screening.
However, a recent bioinformatic analysis of the incomplete
genome of Methanococcus voltae strain A3 indicated the presence
of at least two different proviruses (Krupovic and Bamford
2008) and highlights the need for further study of viruses of
methanogenic Archaea