Satellite tobacco mosaic virus

The satellite tobacco mosaic virus or tobacco mosaic satellivirus is a satellite virus first reported in Nicotiana glauca from southern California, U.S. Its genome consists of linear positive-sense single-stranded RNA.

The satellite tobacco mosaic virus is a small, icosahedral plant virus which worsens the symptoms of infection by tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Satellite viruses are some of the smallest possible reproducing units in nature; they achieve this by relying on both the host cell and a host virus (in this case, TMV) for the machinery necessary for them to reproduce. The entire STMV particle consists of 60 identical copies of a single protein that make up the viral capsid (coating), and a 1063-nucleotide single-stranded RNA genome which codes for the capsid and one other protein of unknown function.