Influence of exogenous viral coat protein on the cotranslational disassembly of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) particles in vitro.
Free coat protein subunits (at 0.1-1.0 mg/ml) from tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) preferentially inhibit the cotranslational disassembly of pH 8-washed virions in vitro. The inhibitory effect is greater than in incubations programmed with naked TMV RNA. Other proteins tested, e.g., bovine serum albumin, had little or no effect on the expression of either template in vitro. Recently it has been proposed that cross-protection between viruses in plants is mediated by the ability of coat protein subunits to inhibit the disassembly of closely related virus strains. If cotranslational disassembly occurs in vivo, then our observations might lend some support to this hypothesis.
Michael
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Department of Virus Research, John Innes Institute, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom.
Wilson
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Watkins
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