A comparative study on the in vitro translation products of individual RNAs from two-, three-, and four-component strains of barley stripe mosaic virus

Abstract

Passaging through plants of the three-component barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) strain Norwich (Norwich III) yielded a two-component isolate (Norwich II). A study was made of the sets of polypeptides translated in a rabbit reticulocyte and wheat embryo cell-free systems from individual RNAs of (1) the natural three-component strain Norwich III, (2) a two-component isolate derived from the former (Norwich II), and (3) an isolate intermediate between the three- and two-component ones, Norwich;. Translation of RNA 1 from all three variants of the Norwich strain in vitro yields a single major product with a molecular weight (M r) of 120,000 (p120). RNA 2 from Norwich III in vitro produces two polypeptides: the viral coat protein (p23) and, in certain ionic conditions, a polypeptide of 25,000 M r (p25). RNA 3 from Norwich III is translated into a protein with M r of 75,000 (p75). Conversion of Norwich III into Norwich II is accompanied by the changes in the coding specificity of RNA 2; beside the coat protein and p25, a protein of 85,000 M r (p85) is formed upon its translation—a feature characteristic of RNA 2 of the naturally occurring bipartite BSMV strains (Russian, type). With the Norwich i variety, which is marked by a significantly reduced portion of RNA 3 in the total virion RNA preparation, RNA 2 in addition to the coat protein, p25, and p85 directs the synthesis of another product with M r of about 78,000. Thus, in conversion of the three-component BSMV into a two-component one, the loss of RNA 3 is concomitant with the actuation in RNA 2 of a sequence coding for p85. RNAs 1–3 of the quadripartite Argentina Mild (AM) BSMV strain code in vitro for the same polypeptides as RNAs 1–3 of Norwich III. AM RNA 4 is translated as a monocistronic template into a polypeptide with M r of 55,000 (p55). Amino acid sequences of p85, p75, and p55 are shown to overlap among these polypeptides but not to appreciably overlap with p120 sequences. Data presented here allowed a tentative structure to be proposed for genome of two-, three-, and four-component BSMV strains.