The structure of barley stripe mosaic virus double-stranded RNAs

AbstractThe terminal structures of the double-stranded replicative forms (RFs) of barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) RNAs 1–3 have been investigated. All three BSMV RFs have identical right-hand ends but unique left-hand ends. The plus (+) strands of RFs lack the 3′-ultimate A typical for the encapsidated BSMV RNAS. The 3′-termini of the minus (−) strands contain an unpaired G. It was demonstrated that the internal poly(A) tract of BSMV genome has an equivalent poly(U)-counterpart in the RF (−) strands. The possible role of these peculiarities of BSMV RF structure in RNA replication is discussed