VIRION
Non enveloped, large (50 nm diameter) icosahedral particles composed of 420 subunits (T=7) 
. The virion shell is covered with virion associated protein (VAP)
, and it has not been described whether the capsid is T=7 laevo or dextro.
GENOME
Monopartite, open circular, double stranded DNA of about 8000 base pairs with discontinuities in both strands: one in the transcribed strand and one to three in the non-transcribed strand. Encode for 6 to 7 proteins.
GENE EXPRESSION
The 35s RNA and its spliced derivatives serves as polycistronic mRNA for viral proteins. Polycistronic translation depends on Tav which is beleived to be a translation reinitiation factor. Tav is produced from the monocistronic 19S RNA, the second major viral transcript. Translation of 35S RNA is initiated by ribosome shunt, in which scanning ribosomes bypass leader sequence and multiple short ORFs.
REPLICATION
CYTOPLASMIC/NUCLEAR
- Attachement of the viral proteins to host receptors mediates endocytosis of the virus into the host cell.
- The viral dsDNA is released into the nucleus where it is transcribed by host RNA polymerase II
- 35S RNA and 19S RNA translation produces viral proteins.
- 35S RNA is retrotranscribed in the cytoplasm into new dsDNA genomes
- Genomes are encapsidated with capsid protein, releasing neo virions.