Interannual dynamics, diversity and evolution of the virome in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum from a single crop field

Authors: JIA, JUCHUN - Huazhong Agricultural University; FU, YANPING - Huazhong Agricultural University; JIANG, DAOHONG - Huazhong Agricultural University; MU, FAN - Huazhong Agricultural University; CHENG, JIASEN - Huazhong Agricultural University; LIN, YANG - Huazhong Agricultural University; LI, BO - Huazhong Agricultural University; Marzano, Shin-Yi; XIE, JIATAO - Huazhong Agricultural University

Submitted to: Virus Evolution
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/2021
Publication Date: 3/31/2021
Citation: Jia, J., Fu, Y., Jiang, D., Mu, F., Cheng, J., Lin, Y., Li, B., Marzano, S.L., Xie, J. 2021. Interannual dynamics, diversity and evolution of the virome in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum from a single crop field. Virus Evolution. 7(1). Article veab032. https://doi.org/10.1093/ve/veab032.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ve/veab032

Interpretive Summary: The concept of core microbiome has not been explored in the context of viro-control in the field. This present study determined the core viral community from analyzing the viromes in three consecutive years. Among the 66 mycoviruses identified, 23 are present from year to year and may have strong vitality and transmission abilities under field conditions for the development of viro-control purposes.

Technical Abstract: Virocontrol is the use of mycoviruses to control fungal pathogens in the field. However, mycovirus diversity had been generally analyzed from isolates of fungal cultures at a single point in time. The stability of mycovirus composition within a small geographical location over time remains unclear. Not knowing how the population fluctuates in the field can be a source of unpredictability in the successful application of virocontrol. To better understand the changes over time, we monitored the interannual dynamics and abundance of mycoviruses infecting Sclerotinia sclerotiorum at a rapeseed-growing field for three years. We found that the viromes in S. sclerotiorum harbored unique mycovirus compositions each year. Sixty-six mycoviruses were identified in total, among which only twenty-three were detected in all three successive years. These twenty-three mycoviruses are considered as the core virome in S. sclerotiorum and may have strong vitality and transmission abilities under field conditions. Moreover, twenty-seven are newly described, including two novel multi-segmented narnaviruses and four unique bunyaviruses. Overall, the mycoviruses discovered in this study belonged to as many as nineteen families, demonstrating how diverse the virome of S. sclerotiorum can be. Nearly two thirds of the mycoviruses had positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) genomes consistently across all three years. The findings not only shed light on the annual variation of mycovirus diversity, but also revealed their ecological role in shaping the fungal population.