Changes in a Nucleic Acid and a Protein Component of Rice Dwarf Virus Particles Associated with an Increase in Symptom Severity

Repeated selection of plants with unusually severe symptoms after their inoculation by insect vectors which had been injected with dilute inoculum from crude extracts of a stock culture (O strain) of rice dwarf virus (RDV) resulted in the emergence of a severe isolate (S strain). Of the 12 segments of RDV RNA, the fourth largest RNA of the S strain had an apparent M r about 20000 larger than that of the corresponding segment of the O strain. The M r of the protein corresponding to the M r 43000 protein of the O strain, which is located on the outside of the outer capsid, was 44000 in the S strain. The implication of the differences in the RNA and protein components between the S and O strains is discussed.