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Peer-reviewedCC BYPLoS Biology

Mycodnaviridae is a clade of giant viruses that persistently infect zoosporic fungi

  • Jillian M. Myers1
  • Frederik Schulz2
  • Saleh Rahimlou1
  • Vikas Yadav3
  • Sheng Sun3
  • Kevin R. Amses1
  • David Rabern Simmons1
  • Michelle Orozco-Quime1
  • Joseph Heitman3
  • Jason Stajich4
  • Timothy Yong James1,5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
  2. 2DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
  3. 3Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
  4. 4Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
  5. 5University of Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Abstract

Giant viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota have emerged as particularly notable due to their increasingly recognized impacts on eukaryotic genome evolution. Their origins are hypothesized to predate or coincide with the diversification of eukaryotes, and they have been detected in hosts that span the eukaryotic tree of life. But surprisingly, such viruses have not been definitively found in Kingdom Fungi, though earlier genomic and metagenomic work suggests putative associations. Here we report both "viral fossils" and active infection by giant viruses in fungi, particularly in the zoosporic phyla Blastocladiomycota and Chytridiomycota. The recovered viral assemblies span up to 350 kb, encode over 300 genes, and form a monophyletic family-level clade within the Nucleocytoviricota related to orders Imitervirales and Algavirales, which we name Mycodnaviridae. We observed variation in infection status among the isolates including apparent active infection and transcriptionally suppressed states, suggesting that viral activation may be constrained to certain life stages of the host. Our experimental findings add to the limited natural virus-host systems available in culture for the study of giant viruses and expand the known host range of Nucleocytoviricota into a new kingdom that contains many model species. Mycodnaviridae have a global distribution, which invites inquiry into the implications of these infections for host traits, host genome evolution, and the metabolic impacts on ecosystems.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{myers2026mycodnaviridae,
  title = {{Mycodnaviridae is a clade of giant viruses that persistently infect zoosporic fungi}},
  author = {Jillian M. Myers and Frederik Schulz and Saleh Rahimlou and Vikas Yadav and Sheng Sun and Kevin R. Amses and David Rabern Simmons and Michelle Orozco-Quime and Joseph Heitman and Jason Stajich and Timothy Yong James},
  journal = {PLoS Biology},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3003937},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003937},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Mycodnaviridae is a clade of giant viruses that persistently infect zoosporic fungi
AU  - Jillian M. Myers
AU  - Frederik Schulz
AU  - Saleh Rahimlou
AU  - Vikas Yadav
AU  - Sheng Sun
AU  - Kevin R. Amses
AU  - David Rabern Simmons
AU  - Michelle Orozco-Quime
AU  - Joseph Heitman
AU  - Jason Stajich
AU  - Timothy Yong James
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/25
JO  - PLoS Biology
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003937
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003937
AB  - Giant viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota have emerged as particularly notable due to their increasingly recognized impacts on eukaryotic genome evolution. Their origins are hypothesized to predate or coincide with the diversification of eukaryotes, and they have been detected in hosts that span the eukaryotic tree of life. But surprisingly, such viruses have not been definitively found in Kingdom Fungi, though earlier genomic and metagenomic work suggests putative associations. Here we report both "viral fossils" and active infection by giant viruses in fungi, particularly in the zoosporic phyla Blastocladiomycota and Chytridiomycota. The recovered viral assemblies span up to 350 kb, encode over 300 genes, and form a monophyletic family-level clade within the Nucleocytoviricota related to orders Imitervirales and Algavirales, which we name Mycodnaviridae. We observed variation in infection status among the isolates including apparent active infection and transcriptionally suppressed states, suggesting that viral activation may be constrained to certain life stages of the host. Our experimental findings add to the limited natural virus-host systems available in culture for the study of giant viruses and expand the known host range of Nucleocytoviricota into a new kingdom that contains many model species. Mycodnaviridae have a global distribution, which invites inquiry into the implications of these infections for host traits, host genome evolution, and the metabolic impacts on ecosystems.
SN  - 1544-9173
SN  - 1545-7885
ER  -