RNA Polymerase Slippage as a Mechanism for the Production of Frameshift Gene Products in Plant Viruses of the Potyviridae Family

Modifications of RNA sequences by nucleotide insertions, deletions, or substitutions can result in the expression of multiple proteins in overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). In the case of viruses, polymerase slippage results in the alteration of newly synthesized RNA. The mechanism has been