Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Simple and Robust in vivo and in vitro Approach for Studying Virus Assembly
Published on: March 1, 2012
A model for the biogenesis of turnip mosaic virus replication factories
Romain Grangeon1, Sophie Cotton, Jean-François Laliberté
1Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique; INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier; Laval, QC Canada.
Abstract:
Nicotiana benthamiana plants were agroinfiltrated with an infectious clone of the Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) that was engineered to tag replication vesicles with either GFP or mCherry fluorescent proteins. Punctuate vesicle structures were observed in the cytoplasm of infected cells corresponding to viral replication factories. The vesicles were highly motile and co-aligned with the microfilaments. Utilization of latrunculin B, an inhibitor of microfilament polymerization, reduced accumulation of the virus, suggesting that microfilaments are necessary during infection. To investigate biogenesis of the vesicles, leaves were infected simultaneously with two recombinant TuMV infectious clones, one that labeled vesicles in red and one that labeled them in green. We observed cell with green only and red only vesicles indicating a single viral genome origin. In some cases, vesicles exhibited sectors of green, red and yellow fluorescence were also observed, demonstrating that fusion among individual vesicles is possible. Based on those results we propose a model for the biogenesis of viral factory, where viral translation and replication are tightly coupled within virus-induced vesicles.
More Related Videos
10:11Modeling The Lifecycle Of Ebola Virus Under Biosafety Level 2 Conditions With Virus-like Particles Containing Tetracistronic Minigenomes
Published on: September 27, 2014
10:38Large-scale Production of Recombinant RNAs on a Circular Scaffold Using a Viroid-derived System in Escherichia coli
Published on: November 30, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Subviral Agents
Protein Complex Assembly
Many viruses self-assemble into a fully functional unit using the infected host cell to...
Retrovirus Life Cycles
Viral Replication: Lytic Cycle
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Intracellular Movement of Viruses and Bacteria