Archaea are members of a separate domain of life that have unique properties, such as the composition of their cell walls and the structure of their lipid bilayers. Consequently, archaeal viruses face different challenges to infect host cells in comparison with viruses of bacteria and eukaryotes. Despite their significant impact on shaping microbial communities, our understanding of infection processes of archaeal viruses remains limited. Several receptors used by archaeal viruses to infect cells have recently been identified. The interactions between viruses and receptors are one of the determinants of the host range of viruses. Here, we review the current literature on host ranges of archaeal viruses and factors that might impact the width of these host ranges.

古细菌是一个独立的生命领域的成员，具有独特的特性，例如细胞壁的组成和脂质双层的结构。因此，与细菌和真核生物的病毒相比，古菌病毒在感染宿主细胞时面临着不同的挑战。尽管它们对微生物群落的形成具有重大影响，但我们对古菌病毒感染过程的了解仍然有限。最近已经鉴定出古细菌病毒用来感染细胞的几种受体。病毒和受体之间的相互作用是病毒宿主范围的决定因素之一。在这里，我们回顾了有关古菌病毒宿主范围以及可能影响这些宿主范围宽度的因素的最新文献。