Assembly of tobacco mosaic virus in vitro: effect of state of polymerization of the protein component.

The in vitro assembly of tobacco mosaic virus from its constituent RNA and protein was followed by methods of electron microscopy. The effect of the state of polymerization of the protein upon the initiation of assembly of tobacco mosaic virus rods, and the subsequent rod elongation, was investigated. Protein in two identifiable states of polymerization was used: the 20S "disc", consisting of 34 monomers arrayed as a two-ring structure, and the 4S "A-protein", consisting of polymers in the trimer range of size. It is concluded, in confirmation of results of others, that rod assembly is initiated by the attachment of one end of the RNA chain of tobacco mosaic virus to one (or possibly a few) disc structure. Rod elongation, on the other hand, is found to take place by the sequential addition of structures of the size of A-protein, or smaller, to the previously initiated rods.