A Transfectable Fusagravirus from a Japanese Strain of <i>Cryphonectria carpinicola</i> with Spherical Particles
2022
Subha Das | Sakae Hisano | Ana Eusebio-Cope | Hideki Kondo | Nobuhiro Suzuki
A novel dsRNA virus (Cryphonectria carpinicola fusagravirus 1, CcFGV1), isolated from a Japanese strain (JS13) of <i>Cryphonectria carpinicola</i>, was thoroughly characterized. The biological comparison of a set of isogenic CcFGV1-infected and -free (JS13VF) strains indicated asymptomatic infection by CcFGV1. The sequence analysis showed that the virus has a two open reading frame (ORF) genome of 9.6 kbp with the RNA-directed RNA polymerase domain encoded by ORF2. The N-terminal sequencing and peptide mass fingerprinting showed an N-terminally processed or degraded product (150 kDa) of the 5′-proximal ORF1-encoded protein (1462 amino acids) to make up the CcFGV1 spherical particles of ~40 nm in diameter. Interestingly, a portion of CcFGV1 dsRNA co-fractionated with a host protein of 70 kDa. The purified CcFGV1 particles were used to transfect protoplasts of JS13VF as well as the standard strain of an experimental model filamentous fungal host <i>Cryphonectria parasitica</i>. CcFGV1 was confirmed to be associated with asymptomatic infection of both fungi. RNA silencing was shown to target the virus in <i>C. parasitica</i>, resulting in reduced CcFGV1 accumulation by comparing the CcFGV1 content between RNA silencing-competent and -deficient strains. These results indicate the transfectability of spherical particles of a fusagravirus associated with asymptomatic infection.
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