Reproduction of temperature-sensitive strains of TMV under restrictive conditions in the presence of temperature-resistant helper strain

Abstract

Temperature-sensitive (ts) coat protein mutants of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) Ni 118 and flavum are known to produce insoluble protein and free infective RNA in cells infected at high temperatures. Under conditions of mixed infection these ts-mutants can be complemented by temperature-resistant (tr) strains. Different tr strains (vulgare, A 14, dolichos enation mosaic virus) can serve as helper viruses. It was shown that when Ni 118 was complemented by dolichos enation mosaic virus (DEMV) this effect was due to the masking of Ni 118 genome within DEMV coat protein.