Isolation of a double-stranded RNA and a virus-like particle from Geotrichum candidum

✍ Scribed by O. Matte; C. Chabalier; Dr. R. Ratomahenina; J. P. Bossy; P. Galzy

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 501 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0233-111X
• DOI: 10.1002/jobm.3620310609

✦ Synopsis

A virus-like particle (VLP) of 42 nm diameter was isolated from the lipolytic microorganism Geotrichum candidum. The VLP contains a linear double-stranded RNA molecule of 1.70 pm in length. Proteins of VLP were studied by polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis.

A lot of fungi contain virus-like particles (VLPs), the genome of which consists of double-stranded RNA (ds RNA) molecules. These VLPs have been found in Penicillium: Penicillium. stoloniferum (KLEINSCHMIDT et al. 1986), Penicillium funiculosum , Penicillium chrysogenum (LEMKE et al. 1968); but also in Aspergillus (KLEINSCHMIDT et al. 1968) and many other fungi.

Described VLPs show similar characteristics: isometric and a diameter between 27 and 40 nm. Aspergillus flavius VLP: 21 -30 nm (KHANDJIAN et al. 1977), Allomyces arbuscula VLP: 40 nm . Whereas these virus-like particles presented serological differences in the same species.

In this work, we report the isolation of some of these particles from Geotrichum candidum CBS 17853 strains, and give characteristics of their acid nucleic components.