441: Hyphal Hijacker Helps Harvests

This episode: A fungus-infecting virus transforms the fungal foe
into a friend of its host plant!


Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus J


 


News item



Takeaways




Viruses can be useful for treating various diseases,
especially bacterial infections and cancer. Their ability to
target certain cell types specifically makes them great at
hunting down and killing disease-causing cells without
harming the body's healthy tissue. And just as bacteriophages
can work to treat bacterial disease in us, fungal viruses
could help to treat serious fungal infections in crop plants.


 


In this study, a fungus-infecting virus goes beyond treating
a deadly fungal disease in rapeseed plants. Fungus infected
with this virus no longer causes disease, but lives in
harmony with the host plant, protects it from other fungal
diseases, and even helps it to grow better.



 
Journal Paper:
Zhang H, Xie J, Fu Y, Cheng J, Qu Z, Zhao Z, Cheng S, Chen T, Li
B, Wang Q, Liu X, Tian B, Collinge DB, Jiang D. 2020. A 2-kb
Mycovirus Converts a Pathogenic Fungus into a Beneficial
Endophyte for Brassica Protection and Yield Enhancement. Mol
Plant 13:1420–1433.


Other interesting stories:



Engineering E. coli to turn carbon dioxide into biomass

Radiation super-resistant bacteria survive 1 year exposed
to low Earth orbit




 


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com. Thanks for listening!


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