Phytopathogenic fungus hosts a plant virus: A naturally occurring cross-kingdom viral infection.

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, su

SUBMITTER: Andika IB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5699089 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature