Advanced Science, 2023, https:// doi: 10.1002/advs.202302606

Abstract

Mycovirus-mediated hypovirulence has the potential to control fungal diseases. However, the availability of hypovirulence-conferring mycoviruses for plant fungal disease control is limited as most fungal viruses are asymptomatic. In this study, the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) vector p26-D4 of  Fusarium graminearum  gemytripvirus 1 (FgGMTV1), a tripartite circular single-stranded DNA mycovirus, is successfully constructed to convert the causal fungus of cereal Fusarium head blight (FHB) into a hypovirulent strain. p26-D4, with an insert of a 75-150 bp fragment of the target reporter transgene transcript in both sense and antisense orientations, efficiently triggered gene silencing in  Fusarium graminearum . Notably, the two hypovirulent strains, p26-D4-Tri101, and p26-D4-FgPP1, obtained by silencing the virulence-related genes  Tri101  and  FgPP1  with p26-D4, can be used as biocontrol agents to protect wheat from a fungal disease FHB and mycotoxin contamination at the field level. This study not only describes the first mycovirus-derived VIGS system but also proves that the VIGS vector can be used to establish multiple hypovirulent strains to control pathogenic fungi.

Advanced Science,IF=15.1

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37587761/