The structure of cells during tobacco mosaic virus reproduction. Mesophyll cells containing virus crystals

Abstract

The submicroscopic organization of mesophyll cells from tobacco leaves systemically infected with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is described. After fixation with glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide the arrangement of the TMV particles within the crystalline inclusions is well preserved. Only the ribonucleic acid-containing core of the virus particles is visible in the micrographs. Besides the hexagonal virus crystals, several characteristic types of "inclusion bodies" are definable in the cytoplasm: The so-called fluid crystals seem to correspond to single layers of oriented TMV particles between a network of the endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes. Unordered groups or well oriented masses of tubes with the diameter of the TMV capsid are found in certain areas of the cytoplasm. A complicated inclusion body is characterized by an extensively branched and folded part of the endoplasmic reticulum, containing in its folds long aggregates of flexible rods. Certain parts of the cytoplasm are filled with large, strongly electron-scattering globules, probably of lipid composition. These various cytoplasmic differentiations and the different forms of presumed virus material are discussed in relation to late stages of TMV reproduction and virus crystal formation.