Abstract
In the course of searching for antiviral substances to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), it was found that sodium alginate (Alg) had a high inhibitory activity against TMV infection. The addition of Alg to the inoculum solution greatly reduced the number of local lesions formed on Xanthi NN tobacco leaves. The degree of inhibition increased with Alg concentration and was higher in Alg polymer of lower composition of mannuronate to guluronate ratio (M/G ratio) than higher Alg, which suggests that the strength of inhibition relates to the stiffness of polymer chain of Alg. This behavior was similar to chondroitin sulfate (Chs), However, in contrast to Chs, the infectivity of TMV in the case of Alg was enhanced at very low concentrations of Alg. The range of maximum infectivity shifted to the higher Alg concentration with increasing M/G ratios. The degree of inhibition increased with the molecular weight of Alg (M/G ratio at 0.8). The electron micrograph showed that the TMV suspension itself was almost monodisperse and that the addition of Alg caused TMV to form large raft-like aggregates. The antiviral activity of Alg on infectivity of TMV may be caused by blocking the decapsulation process of TMV protein on the cell membrane surface.
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