Figure 7.  The replication cycle of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV).

TMV enters a wounded plant cell to begin the replication cycle [1]. As the coat protein (CP) molecules are stripped away from the RNA [2], host ribosomes begin to translate the two replicase-associated proteins. The replicase proteins (RP) are used to generate a negative-sense (- sense) RNA template from the virus RNA [3]. This - sense RNA is, in turn, used to generate both full-length positive-sense (+ sense) TMV RNA [4] and the + sense subgenomic RNAs (sgRNAs) [5] that are used to express the movement protein (MP) and CP. The + sense TMV RNA is either encapsidated by the CP to form new TMV particles [6] or wrapped with MP [7] to allow it to move to an adjacent cell for another round of replication (Drawing courtesy Vickie Brewster: from K.-B. G. Scholthof 2000).