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Nicotiana clevelandii plants were inoculated with cymbidium ringspot tombusvirus RNA synthesized in vitro, after which further passages were made by sap inoculation. During the third passage, low M r RNA species appeared which had the characteristics of deletion mutants of genomic RNA. Sequence analysis of several of these defective interfering RNAs suggested a possible evolution of smaller from larger molecules. Computer-generated secondary structures of sequences surrounding recombination sites were extensive and stable and these sites occurred in interior or hairpin loops, thus providing a possible explanation for discontinuous RNA transcription and the formation of deletions in genomic RNA.
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