Viroid-like RNA-dependent RNA polymerase-encoding ambiviruses are abundant in complex fungi.

ABSTRACT: Ambiviruses are hybrid infectious elements encoding the hallmark gene of RNA viruses, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and self-cleaving RNA ribozymes found in many viroids. Ambiviruses are thought to be pathogens of fungi, although the majority of reported genomes have been identified in metatranscriptomes. Here, we present a comprehensive screen for ambiviruses in more than 46,500 fungal transcriptomes from the Sequence Read Archive (SRA). Our data-driven virus discovery approach identified more than 2,500 ambiviral sequences across the kingdom Fungi with a striking expansion in members of the phylum Basidiomycota representing the most complex fungal organisms. Our study unveils a large diversity of unknown ambiviruses with as little as 27% protein sequence identity to kno

SUBMITTER: Chong LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10237039 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature