Initiation site for assembly of several strains of TMV and its relation to occurrence of the short particles in infected plants

Abstract

The site of initiation of rod assembly for a tomato (T) and a cowpea (Cc) strain of tobacco mosaic virus and for cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) was determined by electron microscopic serology. The initiation site on T-RNA was located at the same position as that of a common strain previously studied, being about 800 nucleotides away from the 3′-terminus. In contrast, the initiation site on Cc-RNA and CGMMV-RNA was found to be much closer to the 3′-terminus, only about 320 nucleotides away from the terminus, and hence within the coat protein cistron. The location of the initiation site of Cc and CGMMV explained why the coat protein messenger RNA of these strains, but not that of the common and the T strains, is encapsidated to form short particles. © 1980.