Phytopathogenic fungus hosts a plant virus: A naturally occurring cross-kingdom viral infection
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Author list: Andika I.B., Wei S., Cao C., Salaipeth L., Kondo H., Sun L.
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Publication year: 2017
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (0027-8424)
Volume number: 114
Issue number: 46
Start page: 12267
End page: 12272
Number of pages: 6
ISSN: 0027-8424
eISSN: 1091-6490
Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)
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Abstract
The transmission of viral infections between plant and fungal hosts has been suspected to occur, based on phylogenetic and other findings, but has not been directly observed in nature. Here, we report the discovery of a natural infection of the phytopathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani by a plant virus, cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). The CMV-infected R. solani strain was obtained from a potato plant growing in Inner Mongolia Province of China, and CMV infection was stable when this fungal strain was cultured in the laboratory. CMV was horizontally transmitted through hyphal anastomosis but not vertically through basidiospores. By inoculation via protoplast transfection with virions, a reference isolate of CMV replicated in R. solani and another phytopathogenic fungus, suggesting that some fungi can serve as alternative hosts to CMV. Importantly, in fungal inoculation experiments under laboratory conditions, R. solani could acquire CMV from an infected plant, as well as transmit the virus to an uninfected plant. This study presents evidence of the transfer of a virus between plant and fungus, and it further expands our understanding of plant–fungus interactions and the spread of plant viruses. © 2017, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Cross-kingdom, Fungus, Plant virus, Transmission
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