Viruses Infecting the Plant Pathogenic Fungus Rhizoctonia solani

Assane Hamidou Abdoulaye, Mohamed Frahat Foda, Ioly Kotta-Loizou

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The cosmopolitan fungus Rhizoctonia solani has a wide host range and is the causal agent of numerous crop diseases, leading to significant economic losses. To date, no cultivars showing complete resistance to R. solani have been identified and it is imperative to develop a strategy to control the spread of the disease. Fungal viruses, or mycoviruses, are widespread in all major groups of fungi and next-generation sequencing (NGS) is currently the most efficient approach for their identification. An increasing number of novel mycoviruses are being reported, including double-stranded (ds) RNA, circular single-stranded (ss) DNA, negative sense (-)ssRNA, and positive sense (+)ssRNA viruses. The majority of mycovirus infections are cryptic with no obvious symptoms on the hosts; however, some mycoviruses may alter fungal host pathogenicity resulting in hypervirulence or hypovirulence and are therefore potential biological control agents that could be used to combat fungal diseases. R. solani harbors a range of dsRNA and ssRNA viruses, either belonging to established families, such as Endornaviridae, Tymoviridae, Partitiviridae, and Narnaviridae, or unclassified, and some of them have been associated with hypervirulence or hypovirulence. Here we discuss in depth the molecular features of known viruses infecting R. solani and their potential as biological control agents.

Original languageEnglish
JournalViruses
Volume11
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Nov 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Fungal Viruses/classification
  • Genome, Viral
  • Genomics/methods
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Plant Diseases/microbiology
  • RNA Viruses
  • RNA, Viral
  • Rhizoctonia/virology

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