Today’s show covers a field known as mycovirology, or the study of viruses that infect fungi. This esoteric science is nascent but profound in its applications, and we are welcoming one of the few people in the world who are studying these relationships. Why do mycoviruses matter? How can we work with and against them? How can this subfield influence mycology as a whole?

We welcome Dr. Brenda Wingfield from the university of Pretoria in South Africa. Brenda holds her degree in fungal genomics and has published over 300 respective articles. Her work has expanded the mycological fields of taxonomy, phylogeny, ecology and tree pathology.

Topics Covered:

Defining mycovirology
What makes fungal viruses unique from others
Stuck fermentation caused by killer yeasts
Asymptomatic vs symptomatic viruses
Mechanisms of viral infection in fungi
Using mycoviruses to combat Chestnut Blight
Viruses transferring from plants to fungi
Armillaria viruses
Genetic engineering with viruses
What we know about the fungal immune system
The detriment of La France disease in Agaricus bisporus farms
1000 Fungal Genome Project
Show notes:

Dr. Brenda Wingfield's publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?...

Five Questions about Mycoviruses: https://journals.plos.org/plospathoge...

Mycoviruses educational video:    • Video  

Killer Yeasts in Wine: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Secrets of Fungal Viruses: https://theconversation.com/researche...