Global virome in forests

• Project/Area Number: 16K14947
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Nihon University
• Principal Investigator: INOUE Mizuki 日本大学, 文理学部, 准教授 (80432342)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 藤 晋一 秋田県立大学, 生物資源科学部, 教授 (40315601)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
• Keywords: 生態学 / 分子生態学 / 植物病理学 / ウイルス / dsRNA / 野外植物 / バイローム / 森林 / 農地 / RNA / 森林科学 / ウイルス学 / 相互作用 / 植物学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In these days, virome has been clarified in various places such as in human and in the ocean. However, there is few research that clarified plant viruses wholely in forests and glasslands. To find out what kinds of plant viruses exist in ecosystems such as forest and grasslands, we collected leaves of wild plants existed in forest belonging to Tokyo university, Tanasahi. We extracted viral RNA using DECS. When seqencing after whole reverse transcription, we performed BLAST. Otherwise, RT-PCR was performed. However, we did not find any virus. The target RNA in this study was dsRNA. It might have been difficult to extract depending on the time of collection of leaves.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近年、ヒトの体内や海洋中など様々な場所でウイルス相の研究が進められているが森林や草地で植物ウイルスについて網羅的に明らかにした研究はほぼない。農地に侵入する病害性のある植物ウイルスの出どころとしては、森林や草地だと考えられるが、その自然状態を捉ええた研究はなかったが、本研究ではその解明を試みた点で社会的意義があると考えられる。