Molecular characterization of an Egyptian isolate of Penicillium chrysogenum virus

The number and diversity of reported mycoviruses have significantly increased with the utilization of next generation sequencing technologies. In the present study, an Egyptian isolate of a known mycovirus was identified in Penicillium chrysogenum isolated from Damietta governorate, Egypt. The genome of the identified mycovirus is divided into four double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) segments, three of which were completely sequenced and analyzed (dsRNA1; 3562 nts, dsRNA2; 3198 nts and dsRNA4; 2902 nts). The nucleotide sequence of the fourth segment (dsRNA3) has been partially identified. DsRNAs 1 and 2 encode RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and capsid protein (CP), respectively. The mycovirus of the current study was identified as an isolate of Penicillium chrysogenum virus (PcV) based on the high RdRp identity (99.37%) in BLASTX searches. The identified dsRNAs have conserved untranslated regions (UTRs) that were identical to those observed in other chrysoviruses. According to the phylogenetic study, PcV belongs to family Chrysoviridae genus Alphachrysovirus.