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Mitovirus and Mitochondrial Coding Sequences from Basal Fungus Entomophthora muscae

Max L Nibert1, Humberto J Debat2, Austin R Manny3

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Program in Virology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mnibert@hms.harvard.edu.

Viruses
|April 20, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Eight new mitoviruses were discovered in the fungus Entomophthora muscae, a species complex known for insect host manipulation. This finding expands our understanding of mitovirus distribution and evolution in fungi.

Area of Science:

  • Mycology
  • Virology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • The Entomophthora muscae species complex comprises fungi that infect and manipulate insect hosts.
  • Mitoviruses are RNA viruses found in host mitochondria, typically in phylogenetically advanced fungi and plants.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and characterize novel mitoviruses within E. muscae isolates.
  • To investigate the presence of mitoviruses in phylogenetically basal fungi.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of public transcriptome data from E. muscae isolates.
  • Identification and characterization of new mitovirus sequences.
  • Assembly of mitochondrial core-gene coding sequences.

Main Results:

  • Eight new species of mitoviruses were identified in E. muscae.
  • E. muscae represents the first fungus from the phylum Zoopagomycota found to harbor mitoviruses.
  • Unusual codon usage (UGA for Tryptophan) was observed in both mitovirus and host mitochondrial sequences.

Conclusions:

  • The discovery of mitoviruses in E. muscae expands the known host range of these viruses to phylogenetically basal fungi.
  • This finding has implications for understanding the evolutionary history and distribution of mitoviruses.
  • The codon usage patterns suggest specific mitochondrial adaptations in E. muscae.
Keywords:
EntomophthoraEntomophthoromycotinaMitovirusNarnaviridaedatabase miningfungal virusmitochondrionmycovirusvirus discovery

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