Question

The Bromomosaic virus (BMV), which infects barley and some other plants, is a single-stranded RNA virus with three genomic RNAs that each have a specific amino acid attached to the 3' hydroxyl group of the RNAs. The amino acid is attached to the RNA through the carboxyl group, similar to the bonding that an amino acid exhibits when charging a tRNA.

Propose a mechanism for the attachment of the amino acid onto newly replicated BMV RNA. What would this imply about the structure of the RNA located at each of the 3' end of the viral chromosomes?

           

Answer 1

The solution is illustrated below