Fluorescent beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) particles were produced
by replacing part of the readthrough domain of the minor coat protein P75
with the green fluorescent protein (GFP). The recombinant virus was functio
nal in plants and P76-GFP was incorporated at one end of the rod-shaped vir
ions. Laser scanning confocal microscopy and transmission electron microsco
py showed that virus-like particles, almost certainly authentic BNYVV virio
ns, localized to the cytoplasmic surface of mitochondria at early times pos
tinfection but relocated at later times to semiordered clusters in the cyto
plasm, This is the first report of specific targeting of plant virus partic
les to the mitochondria in vivo. (C) 2001 Academic Press.