Self-cleavage of plus and minus RNA transcripts of avocado sunblotch viroid

Abstract
Self-cleavage of both plus and minus RNA transcripts of the 247-residue avocado sunblotch viroid(ASBV), prepared from tandem dimeric cONA clones, occurs specifically at two sites in each transcript to give monomeric plus and minus species.The cleavage reaction occurs both during transcription and on incubation of purified transcripts at pH 8 and 37°C in the presence of magnesium ions to give a 3'-terminal 2',3'-cyclic phosphate and a 5'-terminal hydroxyl group.