Identification of a satellite RNA associated with turnip crinkle virus.

Turnip plants infected with turnip crinkle virus (TCV) contain four major RNA species which are not found in uninfected plants (A = 1.3 x 10(6) MW, B = 0.28 x 10(6) MW, C = 0.17 x 10(6) MW, and D = 0.13 x 10(6) MW). At least two of these RNAs, RNA A and RNA C, are packaged in the mature virion, but only the large RNA A is required for infection. Plants infected with RNA A alone produce neither the small virion RNA C nor the small nonvirion RNAs B and D. The small virion RNA C is not infective by itself, but requires coinfection with RNA A to replicate in plants. RNA C increases the severity of symptoms in plants infected with RNA A and restores the production of the nonvirion RNAs B and D. T1 RNase oligonucleotide mapping and copy DNA hybridization analysis indicate that the virion RNAs A and C do not have extensive homology. These data suggest that the large virion RNA A contains the full TCV genome and that the smaller virion RNA C is a dispensible satellite, designated S-TCV.