Members of the genus Armillaria are widespread forest pathogens against which effective protection has not yet been developed. Due to their longevity and the creation of large-scale cloning of Armillaria individuals, the use of mycoviruses as biocontrol agents (BCAs) against these pathogens could be an effective alternative. This work describes the detection and characterization of viruses in Armillaria spp. collected in the Czech Republic through the application of stranded total RNA sequencing. A total of five single-stranded RNA viruses were detected in Armillaria ostoyae and A. cepistipes, including viruses of the family Tymoviridae and four viruses belonging to the recently described "ambivirus" group with a circular ambisense genome arrangement. Both hammerhead (HHRz) and hairpin (HpRz) ribozymes were detected in all the ambiviricot sequences. Armillaria viruses were compared through phylogenetic analysis and confirmed their specific host by direct RT-PCR. One virus appears to infect both Armillaria species, suggesting the occurrence of interspecies transmission in nature.

Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Zemědělská 1 613 00 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology Faculty of Agriculture and Technology University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice Na Sádkách 1780 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas Universidad Politécnica de Valencia CSIC 46022 Valencia Spain

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