Interference of Small RNAs in Fusarium graminearum through FgGMTV1 Infection

Small RNA (sRNA) plays a central role in RNA silencing in fungi. The genome of Fusarium graminearum gemytripvirus 1 (FgGMTV1) is comprised of three DNA segments: DNA-A, DNA-B, and DNA-C. DNA-A and DNA-B are associated with fungal growth and virulence reduction. To elucidate the role of RNA silencing during the interactions of fungi and viruses, the sRNA profiles of F. graminearum in association with FgGMTV1 were established, using an FgGMTV1-free library (S-S), a library for infection with the DNA-A and DNA-B segments (S-AB), and a library for infection with the DNA-A, DNA-B, and DNA-C segments (S-ABC). A large amount of virus-derived sRNA (vsiRNA) was detected in the S-AB and S-ABC libraries, accounting for 9.9% and 13.8% of the total sRNA, respectively, indicating that FgGMTV1 triggers host RNA silencing. The total numbers of sRNA reads differed among the three libraries, suggesting that FgGMTV1 infection interferes with host RNA silencing. In addition, the relative proportions of the different sRNA lengths were altered in the S-AB and S-ABC libraries. The genome distribution patterns of the mapping of vsiRNA to DNA-A and DNA-B in the S-AB and S-ABC libraries were also different. These results suggest the influence of DNA-C on host RNA silencing. Transcripts targeted by vsiRNAs were enriched in pathways that included flavin adenine dinucleotide binding, protein folding, and filamentous growth.