Welcome to the IUMS 2022 Interactive Program

Abstract Body

Fungi, similar to all species, are susceptible to viral infection. Mycoviruses were initially discovered in the 1960s and the field continues to be active today with ground-breaking discoveries. Of particular interest are mycoviruses that infect human, insect and plant pathogens, modulating the phenotypes of their fungal hosts. Such mycovirus mediated phenotypes may include alterations in morphology, pigmentation, growth and spore production, hypovirulence, hypervirulence, control of endophytic traits, regulation of metabolite production, and drug resistance. In the context of mycovirus-fungus interactions, environmental factors, both abiotic and biotic, play crucial roles in whether and how mycovirus mediated phenotypes are manifested. The family Polymycoviridae was recently established and accommodates non-conventionally encapsidated viruses with segmented, double-stranded (ds) RNA genomes that are infectious as purified dsRNA. Each of the four main segments is monocistronic, encoding respectively an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, a putative scaffold protein, a methyl transferase and an intrinsically disordered, RNA-binding, proline-alanine-serine rich protein that coats the viral dsRNA. Aspergillus fumigatus tetramycovirus-1 (AfuTmV-1) was initially discovered in the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus and related viruses have been reported in other Aspergilli. AfuTmV1 is a target of the A. fumigatus antiviral RNA silencing machinery and influences the interactions between A. fumigatus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the most common fungus and bacterium respectively in immunocompromised individuals. Beauveria bassiana polymycovirus-1 (BbPmV-1) infects the insect pathogen and popular biocontrol agent Beauveria bassiana and has been widely detected in European B. bassianaisolates, alone or in combination with other mycoviruses. Mycovirus infection differentially affects the efficacy of B. bassiana against insects, including the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella, the army mealworm Tenebrio molitor and the mosquito Anopheles coluzzii, vector of the Plasmodium parasite causing malaria. Such phenomena may be medically, ecologically and economically significant, and merit further investigation.