The viroid: big punch in a small package.
Although viroids consist solely of short lengths of unencapsidated single-stranded circular RNA, they replicate autonomously in plants and cause diseases that are as varied and often as severe as those caused by plant viruses. All this, without ever serving as mRNAs. However, aside from some fascinating glimpses, the mechanisms of viroid pathogenesis remain largely enigmatic.
Diener
T O
TO
Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Dept of Botany, University of Maryland, College Park.
D001483:Base Sequence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000502:physiology; D014772:Viroids / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D014779:Virus Replication; D019892:eIF-2 Kinase
D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D019892:eIF-2 Kinase