Edit page | Page history | Printable version

RNA, satellite

small, linear single-stranded rNA molecules functionally acting as molecular parasites of certain RNA plant viruses. Satellite rnas exhibit four characteristic traits: 1) they require helper viruses to replicate; 2) they are unnecessary for the replication of helper viruses; 3) they are encapsidated in the coat protein of the helper virus; 4) they have no extensive sequence homology to the helper virus. Thus they differ from satellite viruses which encode their own coat protein, and from the genomic RNA (=RNA, viral) of satellite viruses.