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Research Activities
Prof. Nobuhiro SUZUKI
Research Areas : Molecular Virology
Study on the interaction among plant/fungus/virus toward virocontrol of
phytopathogenic fungi
Using two combinations, Chestnut/chestnut blight fungus/mycoviruses and
fruit trees/ root rot fungi/mycoviruses, viral replication and symptom
expression were investigated at the molecular and cellular levels. Obtained
knowledge and achieved technical advance will be integrated into into virocontrol
(a form of biological control using viruses) of the plant pathogenic fungi.
Research on neo-lifestyle of fungal viruses
Several viruses, challenging the concept or rules of viruses, have been
discovered from lower eukaryotes. The objective of this project is to reveal
the unique neo-lifestyle of Yado-nushi virus 1 (YnV1) and Yado-nushi virus
1 (YnV1) newly discovered from an important pathogen of perennial fruit
trees, Rosellinia necatrix. We show that YkV1 highjacks the capsid of YnV1
to heteroencapsidate YkV1 genomic RNA and replicase and use it as the replication
site. Furthermore, viruses with similar mutualistic virus/virus interactions
will be found in other eukaryotic organisms to show the generality of the
neo-lifestyle.
  
Chestnut blight fungus infected with a hypovirus / Neo-virus lifestyle exhibited by a dsRNA virus (yado-nushi virus) and a (+)ssRNA virus (yado-karivirus)
Assoc. Prof. Hideki KONDO
Research Areas : Molecular Virology
Study on viromes in crop phytobiomes
Phytobiomes refer to the complex networks between plants and their associated
communities of organisms including bacteria, fungi, viruses and invertebrates.
Phytobiomes are becoming increasingly recognized as important factors in
plant health and productivity, but in particular, little is known about
the diversities of virus communities in agricultural cropping system. Taking
advances of the next generation sequencing and metagenomics, our group
studies on viromes in fungi and insects that are associated with crop plants.
We aim to find out whether these viral communities influence their hosts
and promote the health and growth of crop plants.
Study of non-retroviral RNA virus-like elements in the genome of the plants,
insects and fungi
The availability of genome sequences of a large number of eukaryotes has led to the discovery of endogenous non-retroviral RNA virus-like elements, also known as endogenous viral elements (EVEs). These elements are considered as fossil of RNA virus integrated into host genomes by as-yet-unknown mechanisms. To gain deeper insight into the long-term viral evolution and host-virus coevolution, our research is focused on identification and analysis of the EVEs in the genome of the plants, insects and fungi.
  
Assoc. Prof. Kiwamu HYODO
Research Areas : Molecular Virology
in preparation
Group of Plant-Microbe Interactions
Institute of Plant Science and Resources,Okayama University
2-20-1 Chuo, Kurashiki, Okayama 710-0046, Japan
TEL +81-86-434-1230 (Suzuki), +81-86-434-1232 (Kondo, Maruyama)
 
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