A Survey of Mycoviral Infection in <i>Fusarium</i> spp. Isolated from Maize and Sorghum in Argentina Identifies the First Mycovirus from <i>Fusarium verticillioides</i>
2020
Andrés Gustavo Jacquat | Martín Gustavo Theumer | María Carmen Cañizares | Humberto Julio Debat | Juliana Iglesias | María Dolores García Pedrajas | José Sebastián Dambolena
Mycoviruses appear to be widespread in <i>Fusarium</i> species worldwide. The aim of this work was to identify mycoviral infections in <i>Fusarium</i> spp., isolated from maize and sorghum grown in Argentina, and to estimate their potential effects on the pathogenicity and toxigenesis of the host fungus towards maize. Mycoviruses were identified in 2 out of 105 isolates analyzed; <i>Fusarium verticillioides</i> strain Sec505 and <i>Fusarium andiyazi</i> strain 162. They were characterized as members of the genus <i>Mitovirus</i> by high-throughput sequencing and sequence analysis. The <i>F. verticillioides</i> mitovirus was a novel mycovirus whereas the <i>F. andiyazi</i> mitovirus was found to be a new strain of a previously identified mitovirus. We have named these mitoviruses, Fusarium verticillioides mitovirus 1 (FvMV1) and Fusarium andiyazi mitovirus 1 strain 162 (FaMV1-162). To our knowledge, FvMV1 is the first mycovirus reported as naturally infecting <i>F. verticillioides</i>, the major causal agent of ear rot and fumonisin producer in corn. Both mitoviruses exhibited 100% vertical transmission rate to microconidia. The Fa162 strain infected with FaMV1-162 did not show phenotypic alterations. In contract, <i>F. verticillioides</i> Sec505 infected with FvMV1 showed increased virulence as well as microconidia and fumonisin-B1 production, compared with two uninfected strains. These results suggest that FvMV1 could have a role in modulating <i>F. verticillioides</i> pathogenicity and toxin production worth further exploring.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Directory of Open Access Journals