Characterization of mycoviruses infecting Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines

There is potential to use mycoviruses that infect the fungal pathogen Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines in antagonist interactions for biological control of sudden death syndrome of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr). Mycoviruses are an alternative to other control methods that have proven to be problematic. We have cured isolates Fsg1063 and Fsg1066 of dsRNA mycoviruses, and shown preliminary evidence of suppression of virulence by the mycoviruses of 21 to 32% in greenhouse studies. Analysis based on fragment size and nucleic acid composition of known mycoviruses indicates that mycoviruses of Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines are likely to be from the virus families Hypoviridae and Partitiviridae. Additional molecular studies will be necessary to characterize these mycoviruses, including Northern blots to find sequence homology with representative mycoviruses from these virus families, and sequencing of cDNA from the Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines mycoviruses to compare with published sequences.