Morphological Characteristics of Rice Stripe Virus

The morphological characteristics of particles of rice stripe virus (RSV) were examined. Each of four components (M1, M2, B and nB) of RSV, isolated by repeated cycles of sucrose density gradient centrifugation, contained circular filaments; the modal lengths were 510 nm for the M1 component, 610 nm for the M2 component, 840 nm for the B component and 2110 nm for the nB component. Each component was associated with a single-stranded species and a double-stranded species of RNA although a fifth component (the T component) did not form a distinct band after the density gradient centrifugation and was associated with circular filaments of 290 nm in length and a ssRNA species.