Naslov
Mycovirus-induced epigenetic changes in phytopathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica

Autori
Nuskern, Lucija ; Ježić, Marin ; Liber, Zlatko ; Mlinarec, Jelena ; Ćurković-Perica, Mirna

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Power of Viruses Book of Abstracts / Bielen, Ana ; Ježić, Marin ; Jurak, Igor ; Škorić, Dijana ; Tomaić, Tomislav - Zagreb : Hrvatsko mikrobiološko društvo, 2018, 55-55

ISBN
978-953-7778-15-6

Skup
The conference Power of Viruses

Mjesto i datum
Poreč, Hrvatska, 16.05.2018. - 18.05.2018

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
chestnut blight, biotic stress, cytosine methylation

Sažetak
Viruses represent an important biotic stress and are known to induce epigenetic changes in plants and animals, but knowledge about their effect on fungal genome methylation levels is still scarce. To study epigenetic changes in a fungus infected with a mycovirus we used a model pathosystem for mycovirus-host interactions: Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV1) and its host, phythopathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. This system is very important since C. parasitica causes chestnut blight, a devastating disease of chestnut trees which can be biologically controlled with CHV1. In C. parasitica deregulation of methylation cycle enzymes upon virus infection was observed previously. In order to study if those changes are reflected on global cytosine methylation levels of infected fungus, we used methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) method. Furthermore, to assess if there is a difference in the effects of different CHV1 strains and/or subtypes on different fungus genotypes, we used six CHV1 strains of different virus subtypes transferred into three different C. parasitica isolates. Following the infection, we have observed an increase in the number and diversity of methylated, hemi-methylated, and total MSAP markers compared to virus-free controls, indicating that CHV1 infection affects the methylation pattern of the C. parasitica genome. Since the increase in methylation levels correlated with previously observed CHV1-induced reduction of fungal growth in vitro, we hypothesize that CHV1-induced increase in C. parasitica genome methylation is likely to be the virulence determinant of the virus, rather than being the defensive mechanism of the fungus. Furthermore, CHV1 subtypes did not consistently show either strong or weak effect on all studied fungal isolates. Rather, the severity of CHV1 effect on methylation levels of infected C. parasitica isolates depended both on individual CHV1 strain, and on the combination of host and virus genomes. These novel findings broaden our knowledge about CHV1 biology and practicality of different viral strains to be used in human-mediated biocontrol.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija

POVEZANOST RADA