Mochama, P.; Jadhav, P.; Neupane, A.; Marzano, S.-Y. Mycoviruses as Triggers and Targets of RNA Silencing in White Mold Fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Viruses2018, 10, 214.
Mochama, P.; Jadhav, P.; Neupane, A.; Marzano, S.-Y. Mycoviruses as Triggers and Targets of RNA Silencing in White Mold Fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Viruses 2018, 10, 214.
Mochama, P.; Jadhav, P.; Neupane, A.; Marzano, S.-Y. Mycoviruses as Triggers and Targets of RNA Silencing in White Mold Fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Viruses2018, 10, 214.
Mochama, P.; Jadhav, P.; Neupane, A.; Marzano, S.-Y. Mycoviruses as Triggers and Targets of RNA Silencing in White Mold Fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Viruses 2018, 10, 214.
Abstract
This study aimed to demonstrate the existence of antiviral RNA silencing mechanisms in Sclerotiniasclerotiorum by probing wild-type and RNA-silencing-deficient strains of the fungus with an RNA virus and a circular DNA virus. Key silencing-related genes, specifically dicers, were disrupted in order to dissect the RNA silencing pathway and provide useful information on fungal control. Dicers Dcl-1, Dcl-2, and both Dcl-1/Dcl-2- genes were displaced by selective marker(s). Disruption mutants were then compared for changes in phenotype, virulence, susceptibility to viral infection, and small RNA accumulation compared to the wild-type strain. Disruption of Dcl-1 or Dcl-2 resulted in no changes in phenotype compared to wild-type S. sclerotiorum; however, the double dicer mutant strain exhibited slower growth. To examine the effect of viral infection on strains containing null-mutations of Dcl-1, Dcl-2 or both genes, mutants were transfected with full-length RNA transcripts of a hypovirus SsHV2L and copies of a single-stranded DNA mycovirus- SsHADV-1 as a synthetic virus. Results indicate that the ΔDcl-1/Dcl-2 double mutant which was slow growing without virus infection exhibited much more severe debilitation following virus infection. Altered colony morphology including: reduced pigmentation, significantly slower growth, and delayed sclerotial formation. Additionally, there is an absence of virus-derived small RNAs in the virus-infected ∆Dcl-1/Dcl-2 mutant compared to the virus-infected wild-type strain which displays a high percentage of virus-derived small RNA. The findings of these studies suggest that if both dicers are silenced, invasive nucleic acids which include mycoviruses ubiquitous in nature- can greatly debilitate the virulence of fungal plant pathogens.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
