Endophytic Virome

Abstract

AbstractEndophytic microorganisms are well established for their mutualistic relationship and plant growth promotion through production of different metabolites. Bacteria and fungi are the major group of endophytes which were extensively studied. Virus are badly named for centuries and their symbiotic relationship was vague. Recent development of omics tools especially next generation sequencing has provided a new perspective towards the mutualistic viral relationship. Endogenous virus which has been much studied in animal and are less understood in plants. In this study, we described the endophytic viral population of tea plant root. Viral population (9%) were significantly less while compared to bacterial population (90%). Viral population of tea endophytes were mostly dominated by endogenous pararetroviral sequences (EPRV) derived from Caulimoviridae and Geminiviridae. Subclassification of Caulimoviridae showed the dominance of Badnavirus (42%), Caulimovirus (29%), Soymovirus (3%), Tungrovirus (3%), while Geminviridae was only represented by genus Bagmovirus. Interestingly, the endophytic virome sequence from root also showed the presence of phage virus from order Caudovirales. Identified sequence from Caudovirales were Myoviridae and Siphoviridae. Sequence comparison with viral population of soil and root showed the possibility of horizontal transfer of Caudovirales from soil to root environment. This study will expand the knowledge on endogenous viruses especially for tea plant. This study will also help us to understand the symbiotic integration of viral particle with plant which could be used in broader sense to tackle different agronomic problems.Significance StatementVirus were badly named for centuries and mostly known for their disease-causing abilities. But recent development of omics tools has focused another facet which is symbiotic. This paper discusses about viral community identified from shotgun sequence of tea root samples which are endogenous in origin. Interestingly, we also identified sequences of phage virus from Caudovirales family which possibly have transmitted from soil. Here we also compared the soil virome community with tea virome to establish the hypothesis. This research will broaden the current knowledge on symbiotic relationship of virus and plant.