Diverse Partitiviruses From the Phytopathogenic Fungus, Rosellinia necatrix

Paul Telengech; Sakae Hisano; Cyrus Mugambi; Kiwamu Hyodo; Juan Manuel Arjona-López; Carlos José López-Herrera; Satoko Kanematsu; Hideki Kondo; Nobuhiro Suzuki

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.01064

Diverse Partitiviruses From the Phytopathogenic Fungus, Rosellinia necatrix

Front Microbiol. 2020 Jun 26:11:1064. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01064. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Paul Telengech¹, Sakae Hisano¹, Cyrus Mugambi¹, Kiwamu Hyodo¹, Juan Manuel Arjona-López^{1

2}, Carlos José López-Herrera², Satoko Kanematsu³, Hideki Kondo¹, Nobuhiro Suzuki¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Kurashiki, Japan.
² Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Spanish Research Council, Córdoba, Spain.
³ Institute of Fruit Tree Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Morioka, Japan.

Abstract

Partitiviruses (dsRNA viruses, family Partitiviridae) are ubiquitously detected in plants and fungi. Although previous surveys suggested their omnipresence in the white root rot fungus, Rosellinia necatrix, only a few of them have been molecularly and biologically characterized thus far. We report the characterization of a total of 20 partitiviruses from 16 R. necatrix strains belonging to 15 new species, for which "Rosellinia necatrix partitivirus 11-Rosellinia necatrix partitivirus 25" were proposed, and 5 previously reported species. The newly identified partitiviruses have been taxonomically placed in two genera, Alphapartitivirus, and Betapartitivirus. Some partitiviruses were transfected into reference strains of the natural host, R. necatrix, and an experimental host, Cryphonectria parasitica, using purified virions. A comparative analysis of resultant transfectants revealed interesting differences and similarities between the RNA accumulation and symptom induction patterns of R. necatrix and C. parasitica. Other interesting findings include the identification of a probable reassortment event and a quintuple partitivirus infection of a single fungal strain. These combined results provide a foundation for further studies aimed at elucidating mechanisms that underly the differences observed.

Keywords: Cryphonectria parasitica; Rosellinia necatrix; diversity; dsRNA virus; horizontal transfer; partitivirus; phytopathogenic fungus; reassortment.