ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
High-Throughput Virome Profiling Reveals Complex Viral Diversity, Co-Infection Patterns, and Novel Viruses in Cnidium officinale in Korea
Provisionally accepted
- 1Gyeongkuk National University, Andong-si, Republic of Korea
- 2National Institute of Forest Science, Suwon, Republic of Korea
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High-throughput sequencing (HTS) was used to comprehensively profile the virome of Cnidium officinale Makino, an economically and medicinally important herb widely cultivated in Korea. Symptomatic leaf samples from nine major cultivation regions were pooled for sequencing. The analysis detected a diverse assemblage of viruses comprising 31 distinct species, including apple stem grooving virus (ASGV), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), cnidium vein yellowing virus-1 (CnVYV-1), and cnidium virus X (CnVX). Importantly, four novel viral agents were identified: Cnidium officinale virus 1 (CnoV1), cnidium virus Y (CnVY), cnidium virus Z (CnVZ), and a unique cnidium virus–associated satellite RNA (satCnV). Viral read distributions varied markedly by regions; for example, CMV dominated in Bonghwa (two sites) and Geochang, while CnVY prevailed in Samcheok-B and Jecheon. Phylogenetic analyses of ASGV and CMV isolates from C. officinale revealed distinct lineages unique to this host, suggesting host-specific adaptation. Co-infection patterns indicated notable interspecific viral interactions. In particular, we observed a strong antagonism between CnVY and CMV, suggesting competitive exclusion or mutual suppression. A virus co-occurrence network analysis identified additional significant virus–virus associations, and principal component analysis (PCA) of virome profiles showed that samples cluster according to their dominant viruses. Overall, our findings emphasize the power of HTS in uncovering complex viromes and advancing understanding of virus ecology in clonally propagated medicinal crops. The comprehensive virome dataset generated here provides an essential foundation for future epidemiological studies and management strategies in C. officinale and related species.
Keywords: Cnidium officinale, virome, High-throughput sequencing (HTS), novel viruses, applestem grooving virus (ASGV), Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV)
Received: 10 Jun 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kang, Lal, Kwon, Kwak, Jung and Kil. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chung Ryul Jung, crjung92@korea.kr
Eui-Joon Kil, viruskil@anu.ac.kr
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