Inhibition of in vitro cotranslational disassembly of tobacco mosaic virus by monoclonal antibodies to the viral coat protein.

It has been shown by others that translation of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA may begin before uncoating of particles is complete. We provide evidence that this cotranslational disassembly can be inhibited by incubating TMV treated at pH 8 with certain monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific for TMV coat protein. The most efficient inhibition was achieved by incubation with some anti-metatope MAbs known to bind to the TMV extremity that becomes disassembled first and contains the 5' end of the RNA, as well as with some anti-cryptotope MAbs that bind only to dissociated coat protein subunits.