Abstract:

In order to excavate the mycovirus resources in Ustilaginoidea virens and deeply analyze the relationship between the genome organization and function of a novel mycovirus,it took a U.virens strain Uv321 with abnormal phenotype,isolated from Hainan Province,as the research object,and identified the species of the novel mycovirus in the strain Uv321 on the basis of the previous meta-transcriptome data,a series of studies have been carried out around the novel mycovirus.The results showed that a novel mycovirus was identified in strain Uv321,named Ustilaginoidea viruses botourmiavirus 7 (UvBV7).The genome of UvBV7 is positive single-stranded RNA(+ssRNA),with a total length of 2 406 nt and a GC-content of 53.78%,containing an open reading frame(ORF)encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase(RdRP),which encodes 643 amino acids with a molecular weight of about 72.727 ku.The prediction of the protein secondary structure of the viral terminal showed that the 5' and 3' terminal bases of UvBV7 were complementary and paired,forming a hairpin structure.The BlastP alignment showed that UvBV7 had the highest similarity with the virus Erysiphe necator associated ourmia-like virus 72,which belonged to the genus Botoulivirus in the family Botourmiaviridae,but only 44.52%.The multiple alignment results based on the RdRP sequences of UvBV7 and other similar viruses showed that there were 8 conserved domains in the RdRP amino acid sequences of UvBV7 and the members of the family Botourmiaviridae.The GDD motif was found in the Ⅵ conserved domain,which is the typical highly conserved core motif of viral RdRP proteins.The phylogenetic tree constructed based on the amino acid sequence of the viral RdRP also indicated that UvBV7 clustered with the members belonging to the genus Botoulivirus.Therefore,UvBV7 is a novel mycovirus belonging to the genus Botoulivirus in the family Botourmiaviridae.The results of dual cultures of different strains of U.virens showed that UvBV7 could be transmitted horizontally between vegetative compatibility strains,but the mycelial tip-ribavirin,heat-ribavirin and protoplast regeneration-ribavirin treatments were unable to eliminate the mycovirus UvBV7 in strain Uv321.In conclusion,this study not only enriched the diversity of mycoviruses in U.virens,but also provided potential biocontrol agents with hypovirulence for the biocontrol of rice false smut.

Key words: Rice false smut, Mycovirus, +ssRNA, Botourmiaviridae, Botoulivirus