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Review
. 2023 May 19;15(5):1202.
doi: 10.3390/v15051202.

Fungal Viruses Unveiled: A Comprehensive Review of Mycoviruses

Bianca Hough  1 , Emma Steenkamp  1 , Brenda Wingfield  1 , David Read  1
Affiliations
Review

Fungal Viruses Unveiled: A Comprehensive Review of Mycoviruses

Bianca Hough et al. Viruses. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Mycoviruses (viruses of fungi) are ubiquitous throughout the fungal kingdom and are currently classified into 23 viral families and the genus botybirnavirus by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). The primary focus of mycoviral research has been on mycoviruses that infect plant pathogenic fungi, due to the ability of some to reduce the virulence of their host and thus act as potential biocontrol against these fungi. However, mycoviruses lack extracellular transmission mechanisms and rely on intercellular transmission through the hyphal anastomosis, which impedes successful transmission between different fungal strains. This review provides a comprehensive overview of mycoviruses, including their origins, host range, taxonomic classification into families, effects on their fungal counterparts, and the techniques employed in their discovery. The application of mycoviruses as biocontrol agents of plant pathogenic fungi is also discussed.

Keywords: biocontrol; diversity; hypervirulence; hypovirulence; mycoviruses; taxonomy; transmission.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mycoviral taxa currently recognized by the ICTV. Compiled using information from the official ICTV website (https://talk.ictvonline.org/, (accessed on 27 March 2023)).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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