Identification of a negative-strand RNA virus with natural plant and fungal hosts.

The presence of viruses that spread to both plant and fungal populations in nature has posed intriguingly scientific question. We found a negative-strand RNA virus related to members of the family , named Valsa mali negative-strand RNA virus 1 (VmNSRV1), which induced strong hypovirulence and was prevalent in a population of the phytopathogenic fungus of apple Valsa canker () infecting apple orchards in the Shaanxi Province of China. Intriguingly, VmNSRV1 encodes a protein with a viral cell-to-cell movement function in plant tissue.

Infection of Two Heterologous Mycoviruses Reduces the Virulence of , a Fungal Agent of Apple Valsa Canker Disease.

Mycovirus infection has been widely shown to attenuate the virulence of phytopathogenic fungi. is an agriculturally important fungus that causes Valsa canker disease in apple trees. In this study, two unrelated mycoviruses [ 1 (CHV1, genus , and single-stranded RNA) and Mycoreovirus 1 (MyRV1, genus , double-stranded RNA)] that originated from (chestnut blight fungus) were singly or doubly introduced into via protoplast fusion.