Characterization of a novel victorivirus isolated from the plant-pathogenic fungus Nigrospora chinensis

Here, we characterized a new mycovirus from the Nigrospora chinensis fungus, that was named Nigrospora chinensis victorivirus 1 (NcV1). NcV1 genome was 5, 283 bp in length, containing two overlapping open reading frames (ORFs), ORF1 and ORF2. ORF1 and ORF2 were predicted to encode a putative coat protein and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, respectively. The stop codon of ORF1 was overlapped with the start codon of ORF2 by tetranucleotide sequence ATGAG. Phylogenetic analysis based on aa sequences of RdRp indicated that NcRV1 was clustered with members of the genus Victorivirus in the family Totiviridae. To our knowledge, this was the first report of mycovirus infecting N. chinensis.