Identification and Functional Characterization of Viroid Circular RNAs.

Viroids are relatively small, noncoding, plant circular RNAs. In contrast to other plant circular RNAs of endogenous origin, viroids are infectious agents able to replicate autonomously in the appropriate host. Because of their highly base-paired structures, they can be purified from infected tissue extracts using nonionic CF11 chromatography. Depending on the host plant species, viroid RNA preparation may also require polysaccharide removal by an extraction with 2-methoxyethanol followed by precipitation with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. Electrophoretic analyses of this kind of preparations frequently show differential bands corresponding to the viroid circular molecules, which are absent in those from healthy plants. These RNA preparations can also be used for viroid transmission to new plants by mechanical inoculation.