Molecular Characterization of a Totivirus and a Partitivirus from the Genus Ophiostoma

Two fungal isolates of the genus Ophiostoma (O. minus and O. quercus) contain double-stranded RNA elements which, when partially cloned and sequenced, represent fragments of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase genes which are most closely related to those found in viruses in the families Totiviridae and Partitiviridae, respectively. This is the first description of a totivirus in the genus Ophiostoma. The partitivirus in O. quercus is distantly related to a partitivirus recently identified in O. himal-ulmi