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Updated: May 17, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Double-Stranded RNA and Pattern Recognition Receptors in Negative-Sense RNA Virus Infection
Published on: January 26, 2019
Evidence for negative-strand RNA virus infection in fungi
Hideki Kondo1, Sotaro Chiba, Kazuhiro Toyoda
1Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Kurashiki 710-0046, Japan. hkondo@rib.okayama.u-ac.jp
Abstract:
Fungal viruses comprise two groups: a major group of five families with double-stranded RNA genomes and a minor group with positive-sense single-stranded (ss)RNA genomes. Although many fungal viruses have been identified, no negative-stranded (-)ssRNA mycoviruses have been reported. Here we present two lines of evidence suggesting the presence of (-)ssRNA viruses in filamentous fungi based on an exhaustive search using extant (-)ssRNA viruses as queries. This revealed (-)ssRNA virus L protein-like sequences in the genome of a phytopathogenic obligate ascomycete, Erysiphe pisi. A similar search for (-)ssRNA viruses in fungal transcriptome shotgun assembly libraries demonstrated that two independent libraries from Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, another phytopathogenic ascomycete, contained several sequences considered to correspond to the entire mononegavirus L gene and likely originating from an infecting (-)ssRNA virus. These results provide strong evidence for both ancient and extant (-)ssRNA virus infections in fungi.
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