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Abstract
Hypovirulence of phytopathogenic fungi are often conferred by mycovirus(es) infections and for this reason many mycoviruses have been characterized, contributing to a better understanding of virus diversity. In this study, three strains of Fusarium head blight fungus (Fusarium boothii) were isolated from Ethiopian wheats as dsRNA-carrying strains: hypovirulent Ep-BL13 (>10, 3 and 2.5 kbp dsRNAs), and virulent Ep-BL14 and Ep-N28 (3 kbp dsRNA each) strains. The 3 kbp-dsRNAs shared 98% nucleotide identity and have single ORFs encoding a replicase when applied to mitochondrial codon usage. Phylogenetic analysis revealed these were strains of a new species termed Fusarium boothii mitovirus 1 in the genus Mitovirus. The largest and smallest dsRNAs in Ep-BL13 appeared to possess single ORFs and the smaller was originated from the larger by removal of its most middle part. The large dsRNA encoded a replicase sharing the highest amino acid identity (35%) with that of Botrytis virus F, the sole member of the family Gammaflexiviridae. Given that the phylogenetic placement, large genome size, simple genomic and unusual 3′-terminal RNA structures were far different from members in the order Tymovirales, the virus termed Fusarium boothii large flexivirus 1 may form a novel genus and family under the order.
Highlights
The number of extant fungal species is currently estimated at up to 1.5 million
The fungal strains Ep-BL13, Ep-BL14 and Ep-28 were isolated from wheats exhibiting Fusarium head blight (FHB) in Ethiopia by using Fusarium-selecting medium, which were found to be double stranded RNA (dsRNA)-positive
Agarose gel electrophoresis of dsRNA fractions extracted from these strains showed a 3 kbp common to all three strains and additional >10 and 2.5 kbp bands only in the Ep-BL13 strain (Figure 1A), thereby suggesting infections by unknown RNA mycoviruses
Summary
The number of extant fungal species is currently estimated at up to 1.5 million. Viruses that infect fungi are known as mycoviruses or fungal viruses and are ubiquitous across the kingdom Fungi [1].Partitiviruses, and mitoviruses in particular, are omnipresent. Viruses that infect fungi are known as mycoviruses or fungal viruses and are ubiquitous across the kingdom Fungi [1]. Mycoviruses were often found to have unique features such as genomic structures, virion structures, anti-viral defence strategies, etc. Most mycoviruses infect fungal hosts asymptomatically and the remainder rarely exert a positive or negative impact on fungal host traits such as virulence, asexual/sexual spore production, pigmentation and growth [5,6,7]. Virocontrol, a method of biological control using mycoviruses that attenuate the virulence of phytopathogenic fungi (conferring hypovirulence), has attracted the attention of researchers for the last few decades [8,9,10,11], Viruses 2018, 10, 584; doi:10.3390/v10110584 www.mdpi.com/journal/viruses
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