Attenuation of Virulence in Sclerotinia homoeocarpa during Storage is Associated with Latent Infection by Ophiostoma mitovirus 3a

Abstract

The hypovirulence-associated mitovirus, Ophiostoma mitovirus 3a (OMV3a), has been shown to be widespread in eastern Canadian populations of Sclerotinia homoeocarpa in the form of latent infection. Latent infection by OMV3a was not associated with an apparent phenotype and did not significantly reduce the growth and virulence of the pathogen. In the present study, we found that isolates of S. homoeocarpa latently infected by OMV3a can change to hypovirulent isolates after storage at 4 °C, and that this attenuation of virulence was associated with increased concentration of the OMV3a virus. Recurrent observations revealed that up to 29.8% of latently infected isolates changed to hypovirulent isolates after 21 months of storage. Transmission of OMV3a dsRNA from latently infected isolates to virus-free isolates resulted in latent infection of the recipient isolates, indicating that latent infection by OMV3a was not associated with genetic differences in the fungal host. The RNA genomes of the OMV3a virus in an isogenic pair of latently infected and hypovirulent isolates were sequenced and compared. Each of the two RNAs contained an open reading frame of 726 amino acids with conserved motifs typical of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). The OMV3a RNA sequences in these two isolates share 95.1% nucleotide and 94.6% amino acid sequence identities. The development of hypovirulence from latent infection by OMV3a virus may provide new strategies to improve the biological control efficacy of hypovirulence in dollar spot management.