Abstract
Fungal viruses or mycoviruses are widespread in fungi and are believed to be of ancient origin. They have evolved in concert with their hosts and are usually associated with symptomless infections. Mycoviruses are transmitted intracellularly during cell division, sporogenesis and cell fusion, and they lack an extracellular phase to their life cycles. Their natural host ranges are limited to individuals within the same or closely related vegetative compatibility groups. Typically, fungal viruses are isometric particles 25–50 nm in diameter, and possess dsRNA genomes. The best characterized of these belong to the family Totiviridae whose members have simple undivided dsRNA genomes comprised of a coat protein (CP) gene and an RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP) gene. A recently characterized totivirus infecting a filamentous fungus was found to be more closely related to protozoan totiviruses than to yeast totiviruses suggesting these viruses existed prior to the divergence of fungi and protozoa. Although the dsRNA viruses at large are polyphyletic, based on RDRP sequence comparisons, the totiviruses are monophyletic. The theory of a cellular self-replicating mRNA as the origin of totiviruses is attractive because of their apparent ancient origin, the close relationships among their RDRPs, genome simplicity and the ability to use host proteins efficiently. Mycoviruses with bipartite genomes (partitiviruses), like the totiviruses, have simple genomes, but the CP and RDRP genes are on separate dsRNA segments. Because of RDRP sequence similarity, the partitiviruses are probably derived from a totivirus ancestor. The mycoviruses with unencapsidated dsRNA-like genomes (hypoviruses) and those with bacilliform (+) strand RNA genomes (barnaviruses) have more complex genomes and appear to have common ancestry with plant (+) strand RNA viruses in supergroup 1 with potyvirus and sobemovirus lineages, respectively. The La France isometric virus (LIV), an unclassified virus with multipartite dsRNA genome, is associated with a severe die-back disease of the cultivated mushroom. LIV appears to be of recent origin since it differs from its host in codon usage.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Buck K.W. in Buck K.W. (ed.), Fungal Virology. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1986, pp. 1-84.
Ghabrial S.A., Adv Virus Res 43, 303-388, 1994.
Bruenn J.A., Nucleic Acids Res 21, 5667-5669, 1993.
Lemke P.A. in Molitoris H.P., Hollings M., and Wood H.A. (eds), Fungal Viruses. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1979, pp. 2-7.
Ghabrial S.A., Bruenn J.A., Buck K.W., Wickner R.B., Patterson J.L., Stuart K.D., Wang A.L., and Wang C.C. in Murphy F.A., Fauquet C.M., Bishop D.H.L., Ghabrial S.A., Jarvis A.W., Martelli, G.P., Mayo M.A., and Summers M.D. (eds), Virus Taxonomy: Sixth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1995, pp. 245-252.
Ghabrial S.A., Bozarth R.F., Buck K.W., Yamashita S., Martelli G.P., and Milne, R.G. in Murphy F.A., Fauquet C.M., Bishop D.H.L., Ghabrial S.A., Jarvis A.W., Martelli G.P., Mayo M.A., and Summers M.D. (eds), Virus Taxonomy: Sixth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1995, pp. 253-260.
Diamond M.E., Dowhanick J.J., Nemeroff M.E., Pietras D.F., Tu C., and Bruenn J.A., J Virol 63, 3983-3990, 1989.
Huang S. and Ghabrial S.A., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93, 12541-12546, 1996.
Icho T. and Wickner R.B., J Biol Chem 264, 6716-6723, 1989.
Park C.-M., Lopinski J.D., Masuda J., Tzeng T.-H., and Bruenn, J.A., Virology 216, 451-454, 1996.
Scheffter S.M., Widmer G., and Patterson J.L., Virology 199, 479-483, 1994.
Scheffter S.M., Ro Y.T., Chung I.K., and Patterson J.L., Virology 212, 84-90, 1995.
Stuart K.D., Weeks R., Guilbride L., and Myler P.J., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89
Tai J.-H and Ip C.-F., Virology 206, 773-776, 1995.
Wang A.L., Yang H.-M., Shen, K.A., and Wang C.C., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 90, 8595-8599, 1993.
Oh C.-S. and Hillman B.I., J Gen Virol 76, 1461-1470, 1995.
Goodin M.M., Schlagnhaufer B., Weir T., and Romaine C.P., J Virol 71, 2264-2269, 1997.
Hillman B.I., Fulbright, D.W., Nuss D.E., and Van Alfen NK. In Murphy F.A., Fauquet C.M., Bishop D.H.L., Ghabrial S.A., Jarvis A.W., Martelli G.P., Mayo M.A., and Summers M.D. (eds). Virus Taxonomy: Sixth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1995, pp. 261-264.
Van der Lende T.R., Duitman E.H., Gunnewijk M.G.W., Yu L., and Wessels G.H., Virology 217, 88-96, 1996.
Anagnostakis S.L., Science 215, 466-471, 1982.
Van Zaayen A., in Lemke P.A. (ed). Viruses and Plasmids of Fungi. Marcel Dekker, New York, 1979, pp. 239-324.
Nuss D.L., Microbiol Rev 56, 561-576.
Nuss D.L. and Koltin Y., Ann Rev Phytopathol 28, 37-58, 1990.
Choi G.H. and Nuss D.L. (1992). Science 257, 800-803 1992.
Ghabrial S.A., in Buck K.W. (ed). Fungal Virology. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1986, pp. 163-176.
Wang A.L. and Wang C.C., Ann Rev Microbiol 45, 251-263, 1991.
Bussey H., Boone C., Zhu H., Vernet T., Whiteway M., and Thomas D.Y., Experientia 46, 193-200.
Koltin Y, in Koltin Y. and Leibowitz M.J. (eds). Viruses of Fungi and Simple Eukaryotes. Marcel Dekker, New York, 1988, pp. 209-242.
Ghabrial S.A., In Webster R.G. and Granoff A. (eds). Encyclopedia of Virology. Academic Press, London, 1994, pp. 1464-1468.
Jacobs B.L. and Langland J.O., Virology 219, 339-349, 1996.
Wickner R.B., Microbiol Rev 60, 250-265, 1996.
Huang S., Soldevila A.I., Webb B.A., and Ghabrial S.A., Virology 234, 130-137, 1997.
Nuss D.L., Plant Cell 8, 1845-1853, 1996.
Murphy F.A., Fauquet C.M., Bishop D.H.L., Ghabrial S.A., Jarvis A.W., Martelli G.P., Mayo M.A., and Summers M.D. (eds). Virus Taxonomy: Sixth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1995, pp. 205-264.
Koonin E.V., Sem Virol 3, 327-339, 1992.
Zanotto P.M.de A., Gibbs M.J., Gould E.A., and Holmes E.C. J Virol 70, 6083-6096, 1996.
Oh C.-S and Hillman B.I., J Gen Virol 76, 1461-1470, 1995.
Swoffrd D.L., PAUP: Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony, V.3.1.1. Smithsonian Institute, 1993.
Koonin E.V., Choi G.H., Nuss D.L., Shapira R., and Carrington J.C., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88, 10647-10651, 1991.
Gorbalenya A.E., Koonin E.V., Donchenko A.P., and Blinov V.M., Nucl Acids Res 17, 4456-4469, 1989.
Oh C.S. and Carrington J.C., Virology 171, 692-699, 1989.
Choi G.H., Shapira R., and Nuss D.L., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88, 1167-1171.
Shapira R. and Nuss. D.L., J Biol Chem 266, 19419-19425.
Tartaglia J., Paul C.P., Fulbright D.W., and Nuss, D.L., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 83, 9109-9113, 1986.
Romaine C.P. in Murphy F.A., Fauquet C.M., Bishop D.H.L., Ghabrial S.A., Jarvis A.W., Martelli, G.P., Mayo M.A., and Summers M.D. (eds). Virus Taxonomy: Sixth Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1995, pp. 483-484.
Revill P.A., Davidson A.D., and Wright P.J., Virology 202, 904-911, 1994.
Strauss E.G., Strauss J.H., and Levine A.J. In Fields B.N., Knipe D.M. and Howley P.M. (eds). Fields Virology, Third Edition. Lippincot-Raven Publishers, Philadelphia. 1996, pp. 153-171.
Koonin E.V. and Dolja V.V., Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol 28, 375-430, 1993.
Harmsen M.C., Tolner B., Kram A., Go S.J., de Haan A., and Wessels J.G.H., Curr Genet 20, 137-144, 1991.
Goodin M.M., Schlagnhaufer B., and Romaine C.P., Phytopathology 82, 285-290, 1992.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ghabrial, S.A. Origin, Adaptation and Evolutionary Pathways of Fungal Viruses. Virus Genes 16, 119–131 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007966229595
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007966229595