Identification of a Retroviroid-Like Element from Plants

The biological nature of carnation small viroid-like RNA (CarSV RNA), a 275-nt circular molecule with self-cleaving hammerhead structures in its strands of both polarities, was investigated. The lack of infectivity observed in a series of transmission assays in carnation indicates that CarSV RNA, in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1995-07, Vol.92 (15), p.6856-6860
Main Authors: Daros, Jose A., Flores, Ricardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Base Sequence
carnation etched ring virus
carnation mottle virus
Caulimovirus - genetics
Dianthus caryophyllus
DNA
DNA, Plant - genetics
Gels
Genome, Plant
Molecular Sequence Data
Nucleic acids
Nucleotide sequences
Plants
Plants - genetics
Plants - virology
Plasmids - genetics
Polymerase chain reaction
Retroviridae - genetics
RNA
RNA - genetics
RNA, Plant - genetics
RNA, Viral - genetics
Satellite RNA
Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
Viroids
Viroids - genetics
Viruses
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Summary:The biological nature of carnation small viroid-like RNA (CarSV RNA), a 275-nt circular molecule with self-cleaving hammerhead structures in its strands of both polarities, was investigated. The lack of infectivity observed in a series of transmission assays in carnation indicates that CarSV RNA, in spite of sharing structural similarities with viroid and viroid-like satellite RNAs from plants, does not belong to either of these two groups. Additional evidence in this direction comes from the observation that CarSV RNA also exists in carnation plants as DNA tandem repeats. In this respect, CarSV RNA is similar to a small transcript of a tandemly repeated DNA sequence of the newt genome. Moreover, CarSV and newt RNAs have similarities in their sequences as well as in some characteristics of their corresponding hammerhead structures. Further analyses have revealed that CarSV DNA is found directly fused to DNA sequences of carnation etched ring caulimovirus, a pararetrovirus, most likely in the form of an extrachromosomal element. The properties of the CarSV RNA/DNA system are those of a retroviroid-like element having some features in common with viroid and viroid-like satellite RNAs from plants and others with the newt transcript.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.92.15.6856