Integration of replication and assembly of infectious virions in plant RNA viruses

•Replication is actively integrated with virion assembly and genome packaging.•A physical interaction between viral coat protein (CP) and relicase protein exists.•We propose that replicase interaction induces a conformational change to CP.•The modified CP regulates strand asymmetry followed by packaging specificity and assembly of physically homogeneous virion population.

For all plant pathogenic viruses with positive-strand RNA genomes, the assembly of infectious virions is a carefully orchestrated process. The mature virions of such viruses exhibit a remarkable degree of packaging specificity, despite the opportunity that exists to package cellular RNAs. Recent technical developments in the fields of molecular and cellular biology have revealed that the processes regulating genome replication and virion assembly are integrated. The main focus of this review is to (i) apprise readers of the technical breakthroughs that have facilitated the dissection of replication from virion assembly and genome packaging in vivo and (ii) describe the critical factors that have been shown to be involved in the regulation and integration of these processes.

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