EXPRESSION OF TOBACCO NECROSIS VIRUS OPEN READING FRAME-1 AND FRAME-2IS SUFFICIENT FOR THE REPLICATION OF SATELLITE TOBACCO NECROSIS VIRUS

Tobacco necrosis virus (TNV) is a small icosahedral plant virus which is often associated with satellite viruses. The genomic RNA of TNV con tains six open reading frames (ORFs), of which ORFs 1 and 2 are though t to encode the viral polymerase. We demonstrate that tobacco protopla sts transfected with a vector containing TNV ORFs 1 and 2 under the co ntrol of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter, as well as protopl asts derived from transgenic Nicotiana tabacum containing the same gen e(s), support replication of satellite tobacco necrosis virus RNA. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.