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

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 vi...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 114; no. 46; pp. 12267 - 12272
Main Authors Andika, Ida Bagus, Wei, Shuang, Cao, Chunmei, Salaipeth, Lakha, Kondo, Hideki, Sun, Liying
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 14.11.2017
Subjects
Anastomosis
Basidiospores
Biological Sciences
Fungi
Infections
Inoculation
Pathogens
Phylogeny
Phytopathogenic fungi
Plant diseases
Plant viruses
Potatoes
Transfection
Viral infections
Virions
Viruses
cross-kingdom
transmission
fungus
plant virus
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Summary: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.
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Edited by James L. Van Etten, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, and approved October 6, 2017 (received for review August 23, 2017)
Author contributions: I.B.A. and L. Sun designed research; I.B.A., S.W., C.C., L. Salaipeth, and L. Sun performed research; I.B.A., H.K., and L. Sun analyzed data; and I.B.A., H.K., and L. Sun wrote the paper.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1714916114