Cell of Sulfolobus infected by virus STSV1 observed under microscopyCell of
Sulfolobus infected by virus STSV1 observed under microscopy. Two spindle-shaped viruses were being released from the host cell. The strain of Sulfolobus and STSV1 (Sulfolobus tengchongensis Spindle-shaped Virus 1) were isolated by Xiaoyu Xiang and his colleagues in an acidic hot spring in Yunnan Province, China. At present, STSV1 is the largest archaeal virus to have been isolated and studied. Its genome sequence has been sequenced.