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Nibert, Max

Double-stranded (ds)RNA fungal viruses are currently assigned to six different families. Those from the family Totiviridae are characterized by nonsegmented genomes and single-layer capsids, 300–450 Å in diameter. Helminthosporium victoriae virus 190S (HvV190S), prototype of recently recognized genus Victorivirus, infects the filamentous fungus Helminthosporium victoriae (telomorph: Cochliobolus victoriae), which is the causal agent of Victoria blight of oats. The HvV190S genome is 5179 bp long and encompasses two large, slightly overlapping open reading frames that encode the coat protein (CP, 772 aa) and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp, 835 aa). To our present knowledge, victoriviruses uniquely express their RdRps via a coupled termination–reinitiation mechanism that differs from the well-characterized Saccharomyces cerevisiae virus L-A (ScV-L-A, prototype of genus Totivirus), in which the RdRp is expressed as a CP/RdRp fusion protein due to ribosomal frameshifting. Here, we used transmission electron cryomicroscopy and three-dimensional image reconstruction to determine the structures of HvV190S virions and two types of virus-like particles (capsids lacking dsRNA and capsids lacking both dsRNA and RdRp) at estimated resolutions of 7.1, 7.5, and 7.6 Å, respectively. The HvV190S capsid is thin and smooth, and contains 120 copies of CP arranged in a “T = 2” icosahedral lattice characteristic of ScV-L-A and other dsRNA viruses. For aid in our interpretations, we developed and used an iterative segmentation procedure to define the boundaries of the two, chemically identical CP subunits in each asymmetric unit. Both subunits have a similar fold, but one that differs from ScV-L-A in many details except for a core α-helical region that is further predicted to be conserved among many other totiviruses. In particular, we predict the structures of other victoriviruses to be highly similar to HvV190S and the structures of most if not all totiviruses including, Leishmania RNA virus 1, to be similar as well.

Family Reoviridae, subfamily Spinareovirinae, includes nine current genera. Two of these genera, Aquareovirus and Orthoreovirus, comprise members that are closely related and consistently share nine homologous proteins. Orthoreoviruses have 10 dsRNA genome segments and infect reptiles, birds, and mammals, whereas aquareoviruses have 11 dsRNA genome segments and infect fish. Recently, the first 10-segmented fish reovirus, piscine reovirus (PRV), has been identified and shown to be phylogenetically divergent from the 11-segmented viruses constituting genus Aquareovirus. We have recently extended results for PRV by showing that it does not encode a fusion-associated small transmembrane (FAST) protein, but does encode an outer-fiber protein containing a long N-terminal region of predicted α-helical coiled coil. Three recently characterized 11-segmented fish reoviruses, obtained from grass carp in China and sequenced in full, are also divergent from the viruses now constituting genus Aquareovirus, though not to the same extent as PRV. In the current study, we reexamined the sequences of these three recent isolates of grass carp reovirus (GCRV)–HZ08, GD108, and 104–for further clues to their evolution relative to other aqua- and orthoreoviruses. Structure-based fiber motifs in their encoded outer-fiber proteins were characterized, and other bioinformatics analyses provided evidence against the presence of a FAST protein among their encoded nonstructural proteins. Phylogenetic comparisons showed the combination of more distally branching, approved Aquareovirus and Orthoreovirus members, plus more basally branching isolates GCRV104, GCRV-HZ08/GD108, and PRV, constituting a larger, monophyletic taxon not suitably recognized by the current taxonomic hierarchy. Phylogenetics also suggested that the last common ancestor of all these viruses was a fiber-encoding, nonfusogenic virus and that the FAST protein family arose from at least two separate gain-of-function events. In addition, an apparent evolutionary correlation was found between the gain or loss of NS-FAST and outer-fiber proteins among more distally branching members of this taxon.

Wide-spread protozoan parasites carry endosymbiotic dsRNA viruses with uncharted implications to the human host. Among them, Trichomonas vaginalis, a parasite adapted to the human genitourinary tract, infects globally ∼250 million each year rendering them more susceptible to devastating pregnancy complications (especially preterm birth), HIV infection and HPV-related cancer. While first-line antibiotic treatment (metronidazole) commonly kills the protozoan pathogen, it fails to improve reproductive outcome. We show that endosymbiotic Trichomonasvirus, highly prevalent in T. vaginalis clinical isolates, is sensed by the human epithelial cells via Toll-like receptor 3, triggering Interferon Regulating Factor -3, interferon type I and proinflammatory cascades previously implicated in preterm birth and HIV-1 susceptibility. Metronidazole treatment amplified these proinflammatory responses. Thus, a new paradigm targeting the protozoan viruses along with the protozoan host may prevent trichomoniasis-attributable inflammatory sequelae.