About the MycoVirome Platform

About us

We are an international research initiative dedicated to understanding the diversity, evolution, and functional impact of mycoviruses (viruses infecting fungi). Using Botrytis cinerea as a model system, we are developing the first integrated and curated platform for visualizing, analyzing, and sharing global mycovirome data.

This platform integrates viral taxonomy, genome metadata, spatio-temporal distribution, visualization tools, and phylogenetic trees into a unified framework. Our interdisciplinary team combines expertise in plant pathology, virology, evolutionary biology, genomics, and bioinformatics to:

• Promote mycovirus discovery
• Promote the study of evolutionary and mycovirome population dynamics across spatial and temporal scales
• Support innovation in biocontrol strategies

Botrytis cinerea

Botrytis cinerea is a globally distributed fungal pathogen best known as the cause of grey mould disease, which affects over 1,400 plant species. It infects several crops, including grapes, strawberries, cherries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and ornamental flowers, leading to significant agricultural and economic losses worldwide.

Biologically, B. cinerea is a necrotrophic fungus, meaning it kills host plant tissue and then feeds on the dead matter. It thrives in humid, temperate climates and is notorious for rapidly adapting to fungicides, making disease management a challenge. Mycoviruses that induce hypovirulence (reduced pathogenicity) in B. cinerea represent promising alternatives to chemical fungicides and offer potential avenues for sustainable biocontrol strategies.

Because it is easy to culture in the laboratory, it has a fully sequenced genome, genetic tools, and a large collection of natural isolates. B. cinerea has become one of the most studied fungal pathogens. It hosts a rich mycovirome diversity (over 100 reported), which can alter its growth, reproduction, stress tolerance, and virulence.

For these reasons, B. cinerea is an ideal model system for studying virus–fungus interactions, and a powerful entry point for building a global understanding of mycoviruses.

Learn more (paper)

Global distribution

Curation team

• Cinthy Jimenez

  Developer and curator

  

  Cinthy Jimenez is a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research interests lie in phylogenetics and virus evolution.

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• Robin MacDiarmid

  Curator

  

  Robin MacDiarmid is Sci Group Ldr in Plant Pathogen Environment at New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited. Her research focuses on discovery of novel viruses and identifying their biological impact within ecosystems.

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• Karmun Chooi

  Curator

  

  Karmun Chooi is a Senior Scientist at Plant & Food Research in New Zealand, specializing in plant-insect-virus interactions and disease management.

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• Maria A. Ayllon

  Curator

  

  Maria A. Ayllon, Associate Professor and leader of the Virus Fungus Plant Interaction group, investigates how mycoviruses affect the virulence of pathogenic fungi.

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• Kim Plummer

  Curator

  

  Kim Plummer is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Ecological Plant and Animal Sciences Melbourne.

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• Dr Daohong Jiang

  Curator

  

  Daohong Jiang is a Professor of Plant Pathology at Huazhong Agricultural University. His research focuses on the discovery of mycovirus resources, endophytic fungi, and biological control of plant diseases. View profile.

• Jordan Douglas

  Computational biologist

  

  Jordan Douglas is a Research Fellow at Australian National University. His research interests lie in phylogenetics, virus evolution, and the origin of genetic coding through the lens of the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases.

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• Jan van Kan

  Curator

  

  Jan van Kan is an Associate Professor at Laboratory of Phytopathology Wageningen university and research. View profile.

Related databases

• ICMP

  The ICMP web dataset contains the information on all cultures in the ICMP. The collection culture (ICMP) is a major international collection of living microorganism cultures.

• ICTV

  Virus taxonomy: the database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV).
  
  Lefkowitz EJ, Dempsey DM, Hendrickson RC, Orton RJ, Siddell SG, Smith DB. (2017) Virus taxonomy: the database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Nucleic Acids Res. Jan 4;46(D1):D708-D717. PMID: 29040670. PMCID: PMC5753373.

• NCBI Virus

  Community portal for viral sequence data from RefSeq, GenBank and other NCBI repositories.