Journal of General Virology, Vol 78, 1765-1769, Copyright © 1997 by Society for General Microbiology

ARTICLES

A cDNA clone from a defective RNA of citrus tristeza virus is infective in the presence of the helper virus

G Yang, M Mawassi, L Ashoulin, R Gafny, V Gaba, A Gal-On and M Bar-Joseph
S. Tolkowsky Laboratory, Department of Virology, A.R.O., Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel.

A naturally occurring defective RNA of 2379 nt (D2.3) from the VT strain of citrus tristeza closterovirus (CTV) was cloned and sequenced. The D2.3 RNA is a fusion of two regions of 1521 and 858 nt from the 5' and 3' ends of the CTV genome, respectively. A cDNA clone of D2.3 RNA was tagged by the insertion of a 0.47 kb chimeric DNA fragment and the recombinant cDNA was inserted downstream of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. The resulting construct was bombarded into CTV- infected tissue, which was then grafted onto virus-free plants. The presence of recombinant RNA in systemically infected leaves was demonstrated by RT-PCR. Sequencing the RT-PCR products synthesized from double-stranded RNA confirmed the presence of the chimeric segment used for tagging. This is the first report of an infectious cDNA molecule derived from CTV D-RNA.

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