INHIBITION OF INVITRO COTRANSLATIONAL DISASSEMBLY OF TOBACCO MOSAIC-VIRUS BY MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES TO THE VIRAL COAT PROTEIN

It has been shown by others that translation of tobacco mosaic virus ( TMV) RNA may begin before uncoating of particles is complete.We provid e evidence that this cotranslational disassembly can be inhibited by i ncubating TMV treated at pH 8 with certain monoclonal antibodies (MAbs ) specific for TMV coat protein. The most efficient inhibition was ach ieved by incubation with some anti-metatope MAbs known to bind to the TMV extremity that becomes disassembled first and contains the 5' end of the RNA, as well as with some anti-cryptotope MAbs that bind only t o dissociated coat protein subunits.