Abstract European chestnut ( Castanea sativa ) is threatened by the invasive fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, which causes blight. The virulence of can be reduced a group mycoviruses that spread among vegetatively compatible strains through hyphal anastomosis. Hypovirulent isolates are used as biocontrol agents, but their efficiency diminished restricted anastomosis if variability vegetative co...

Phleichrome, a pigment produced by the phytopathogenic fungus Cladosporium phlei, is a fungal perylenequinone whose photodynamic activity has been studied intensively. To determine the biological function of phleichrome and to engineer a strain with enhanced production of phleichrome, we identified the gene responsible for the synthesis of phleichrome. Structural comparison of phleichrome with ...

Hypoviruses Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV-1)/EP713, CHV-1/Euro7, and CHV-1/EP721, which infect the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, differ in their degrees of virulence attenuation (hypovirulence), symptom expression, and viral RNA accumulation, even though they share between 90% and 99% amino acid sequence identity. In this report we examine whether this variability is influen...

Cryphonectria parasitica, introduced in the NE of Portugal since 1989, is now an important and widespread pathogen of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) which causes losses in chestnut fruit production and led to decline and death of many chestnut trees. Hypovirulence, a virus mediated attenuation of fungal pathogenesis, has not been frequent until now in Portugal but recently some cases of heali...

Infection of the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, by hypovirus CHV1-EP713 or by reovirus MyRV1-Cp9B21 or MyRV2-CpC18 results in reduced fungal virulence (hypovirulence). However, additional phenotypic changes caused by the two groups of mycoviruses are quite different. We now report that the loss of female fertility and the resulting absence of virus transmission through sexual...

Infection of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica with Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV1) causes disruption of virulence, pigmentation, and sporulation. Transcriptional downregulation of key developmentally regulated fungal genes occurs during infection, but vegetative growth is unaffected. Previous studies showed that CHV1 utilizes trans-Golgi network (TGN) secretory vesicles for ...