Molecular characterization of a novel narnavirus from the plant pathogenic fungus Ustilaginoidea virens
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Mycoviruses are a class of viruses that take fungi, yeasts and oomycetes as hosts and can replicate and multiply within them. They are widely distributed in plant and animal pathogenic fungi. In this study, we identified a novel positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) mycovirus from Ustilaginoidea virens strain Uv339, the causal agent of rice false smut (RSF), which was named Ustilaginoidea virens narnavirus 5 (UvNV5). Sequence analysis revealed that UvNV5 has a complete genome length of 2091 nt and contains an open reading frame (ORF) (131-2038 nt), which encodes a 635-amino-acid (aa) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), with a molecular weight of 71.8 kDa. BLASTp analysis revealed that the UvNV5 genome shares similarities with the RdRp sequence of Ustilaginoidea virens narnavirus virus 13, but the highest identity is only 38.22%. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that UvNV5 clustered within a branch alongside members of the Narnaviridae family. In conclusion, UvNV5 is a novel mycovirus identified as a member of the family Narnaviridae that infects U. virens.
