Cystoviridae

Cystoviruses are a family of double-stranded RNA viruses that infect bacteria. They constitute the family Cystoviridae. The name of the group cysto derives from Greek kystis which means bladder or sack. There are seven genera in this family.

== Discovery == Pseudomonas virus phi6 was the first virus in this family to be discovered and was initially characterized in 1973 by Anne Vidaver at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She found that when she cultured the bacterial strain Pseudomonas phaseolicola HB1OY with halo blight infected bean straw, cytopathic effects were detected in cultured lawns, indicating that there was a lytic microbe or bacteriophage present.