Amino acid analysis of alfalfa mosaic virus coat proteins: An aid for viral strain identification

Amino acid analysis of the coat proteins from different strains of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) can be used as a tool for strain characterization. This method together with carboxy-terminal amino acid analysis of 11 different AMV strains allowed three groups of closely related AMV coat proteins to be distinguished. A rough estimation of the evolutionary relationships among these coat proteins is presented. New chemical evidence is provided in support of previous genetic experiments that have localized the coat protein cistron on the Tb-component RNA.