THE CHARACTERIZATION OF A SUBGENOMIC RNA AND IN-VITRO TRANSLATION PRODUCTS OF OAT CHLOROTIC STUNT VIRUS

Oat chlorotic stunt virus (OCSV) is a 35 nm icosahedral plant virus co mprising of a single capsid protein with a Mr of 48.2 kDa and a 4.1 kb single stranded, positive sense genomic RNA. Northern blot analysis d etected a single 3' terminal subgenomic RNA in extracts from infected plants, which was also found to be encapsidated. Virion RNA directs th e synthesis of a 23 kDa polypeptide in a rabbit reticulocyte in vitro translation system. Primer extension analysis has been used to map the end of both the genomic and subgenomic RNA's, and has shown the genom ic size to be 4115 nucleotides in length. The results have enabled a m odel for the genome expression to be proposed.