The name of the group cysto derives from Greek kystis which means bladder or sack.

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.

[4] In 1999, phi7–14 were identified by the laboratory of Leonard Mindich at the Public Health Research Institute associated with New York University.

[1][2] Cystoviruses have a tripartite double-stranded RNA genome which is approximately 14 kbp in total length.

[1][2] Most identified cystoviruses infect Pseudomonas species, but this is likely biased due to the method of screening and enrichment.

In particular, the structural genes of cystoviruses are highly-similar to those used by a number of dsRNA viruses that infect eukaryotes.