Cylindrical inclusion bodies of wheat streak mosaic virus and three other potyviruses only self-assemble in mixed infections.

Potyviruses produce cylindrical inclusions (CIs) in the cytoplasm of infected cells. Immunogold labelling and electron microscopy of embedded and sectioned wheat and maize cells doubly infected by different potyviruses revealed no mixing of inclusion proteins in CIs. The viruses were wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV), agropyron mosaic virus and hordeum mosaic virus, in wheat, and WSMV and maize dwarf mosaic virus in maize. The three viruses in wheat were indistinguishable morphologically and in ultrastructural features but can be separated by serology and host range. The absence of phenotypic mixing in CIs showed that in the presence of CI proteins of other potyviruses, assembly was either highly virus-specific, or that no opportunity existed for CI proteins to assemble into hybrid CIs in mixed infections.