Viruses (2022) 14 (11 - 2489)

Shufen Chao, Haoran Wang, Shu Zhang, Guoqing Chen, Chonghui Mao, Yang Hu, Fengquan Yu, Shuo Wang, Liang Lv, Long Chen and Guozhong Feng (2022)
Novel RNA viruses discovered in weeds in rice fields
Viruses 14 (11 - 2489)
Abstract: Weeds often grow alongside crop plants. In addition to competing with crops for nutrients, water and space, weeds host insect vectors or act as reservoirs for viral diversity. However, little is known about viruses infecting rice weeds. In this work, we used metatranscriptomic deep sequencing to identify RNA viruses from 29 weed samples representing 23 weed species. A total of 224 RNA viruses were identified: 39 newly identified viruses are sufficiently divergent to comprise new families and genera. The newly identified RNA viruses clustered within 18 viral families. Of the identified viruses, 196 are positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses, 24 are negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses and 4 are double-stranded RNA viruses. We found that some novel RNA viruses clustered within the families or genera of several plant virus species and have the potential to infect plants. Collectively, these results expand our understanding of viral diversity in rice weeds. Our work will contribute to developing effective strategies with which to manage the spread and epidemiology of plant viruses.
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Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Echinochloa crus-galli (weed)	Rice (Oryza)	China (south)
	Eclipta prostrata (weed)	Rice (Oryza)	China (south)
	Leptochloa chinensis (weed)	Rice (Oryza)	China (south)
	Alternanthera philoxeroides (weed)	Rice (Oryza)	China (south)
	Acalypha australis (weed)	Rice (Oryza)	China (south)