Virus community dynamics in the conifer pathogenic fungus Heterobasidion parviporum following an artificial introduction of a partitivirus.

Viruses infecting the conifer pathogenic fungus Heterobasidion annosum sensu lato are intracellular and spread via anastomosis contacts. In the laboratory, these viruses transmit readily even between somatically incompatible isolates, but their dispersal capacity in natural conditions has not been previously studied. We introduced a mycovirus to a heavily diseased forest site by inoculating Norway spruce stumps with heartrot decay using a mycelial suspension of Heterobasidion parviporum strain RT3.49C hosting the partitivirus strain HetRV4-pa1. The Heterobasidion population at the sample plot was screened for mycoviruses prior to and after the inoculation. Based on sequence analysis, the resident H. parviporum strains harbored six different strains of the virus species Heterobasidion RNA virus 6 (HetRV6) and one strain of HetRV4 prior to the inoculation. After three growth seasons, the inoculated H. parviporum host strain was not detected, but the introduced virus had infected two resident H. parviporum genets. The presence of a preexisting HetRV6 infection did not hinder spread of the introduced partitivirus but resulted in coinfections instead. The resident HetRV6 virus population seemed to be highly stable during the incubation period, while the single indigenous HetRV4 infection was not detected after the inoculation. In laboratory infection experiments, the introduced virus could be transmitted successfully into all of the resident H. parviporum genets. This study shows for the first time transmission of a Heterobasidion virus between somatically incompatible hosts in natural conditions.