No abstract

Early onset cognitive therapy is not effective in improving overall HRQOL of severely injured patients but shows promising effects on depression and anxiety up to 12 months after trauma.

Infections of fungi by mycoviruses are often symptomless but sometimes also fatal as they perturb sporulation, growth, and, if applicable, virulence of the fungal host. Hypovirulence-inducing mycoviruses, therefore, represent a powerful mean to defeat fungal epidemics on crop plants. Infection with Fusarium graminearum virus China 9 (FgV-ch9), a dsRNA chrysovirus-like mycovirus, debilitates , the causal agent of Fusarium Head Blight. In search for potential symptom alleviation or aggravation factors in, we consecutively infected a custom-made mutant collection with FgV-ch9 and found a mutant with constantly elevated expression of a gene coding for a putative mRNA-binding protein that did not show any disease symptoms despite harboring high amounts of virus. Deletion of this gene, named virus response 1 (), resulted in phenotypes identical to those observed in the virus-infected wild type with respect to growth, reproduction, and virulence. Similarly, the viral structural protein coded on segment 3 (P3) caused virus-infection like symptoms when expressed in the wild-type but not in the -overexpression mutant. Gene expression analysis revealed a drastic downregulation of in the presence of virus and in mutants expressing P3. We conclude that symptom development and severity correlate with gene expression levels of This was confirmed by comparative transcriptome analysis showing a large transcriptional overlap between the virus-infected wild type, the deletion mutant and the P3-expressing mutant. Hence, represents a fundamental host factor for the expression of virus-related symptoms and helps to understand the underlying mechanism of hypovirulence. Virus infections of phytopathogenic fungi occasionally impair growth, reproduction, and virulence, a phenomenon referred to as hypovirulence. Hypovirulence-inducing mycoviruses, therefore, represent a powerful mean to defeat fungal epidemics on crop plants. However, the poor understanding of the molecular basis of hypovirulence induction limits their application. Using the devastating fungal pathogen on cereal crops, , we identified an mRNA binding protein (named virus response 1,) which is involved in symptom expression. Downregulation of in the virus-infected fungus and deletion evoke virus-infection like symptoms while constitutive expression overrules the cytopathic effects of the virus infection. Intriguingly, the presence of a specific viral structural protein is sufficient to trigger the fungal response, downregulation, and symptom development similar to virus infection. The advancements in understanding fungal infection and response may aid biological pest control approaches using mycoviruses or viral proteins to prevent future Fusarium epidemics.

The hypovirulence-inducing Fusarium graminearum virus China 9 (FgV-ch9) was described recently and is closely related to the Fusarium graminearum mycovirus-2 (FgV2). Both viruses share common properties of viruses belonging to the family Chrysoviridae. Re-sequencing of FgV-ch9 revealed duplications of the 3' non-coding regions of segments 2 and 3. Both duplications are arranged in a head-to-tail array, are attached to the complete terminus, and do not affect the encoded gene. An internal duplication was found in segment 5. This duplication resulted in an increase in the size of the encoded protein. In silico analysis showed similar duplications in segments 2 and 3 of FgV2.