Characterization of Viral-complementary RNA Associated with Polyribosomes from Tobacco Infected with Sonchus Yellow Net Virus

Polyribosomal RNA from tobacco infected with sonchus yellow net virus was resolved by electrophoresis on agarose gels, transferred to nitrocellulose and hybridized to radioactive viral RNA. Polyadenylated RNA contained four major viral complementary species, molecular weights 2.2 x 10⁶, 0.83 x 10⁶, 0.62 x 10⁶ and 0.46 x 10⁶, plus a minor species, molecular weight approx. 3 x 10⁶. No such species could be detected in the non-polyadenylated RNA fraction. The polyadenylated RNA from membrane-bound polyribosomes contained only the 0.83 x 10⁶ and 0.46 x 10⁶ molecular weight RNAs. The sizes of the RNAs were consistent with the expected sizes of messages for the virus proteins, calculated from the molecular weight of these proteins.