A Novel Taxon of Monosegmented Double-Stranded RNA Viruses Endemic to Triclad Flatworms.

ABSTRACT: Freshwater planarians, flatworms from order Tricladida, are experimental models of stem cell biology and tissue regeneration. An aspect of their biology that remains less well studied is their relationship with viruses that may infect them. In this study, we identified a taxon of monosegmented double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses in five planarian species, including the well-characterized model Schmidtea mediterranea Sequences for the S. mediterranea virus (abbreviated SmedTV for S. mediterranea tricladivirus) were found in public transcriptome data from multiple institutions, indicating that SmedTV is prevalent in S. mediterranea lab colonies, though without causing evident disease. The presence of SmedTV in discrete cells was shown through in situ hybrid

SUBMITTER: Burrows JTA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7592200 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature