Carnation latent virus was shown to direct the synthesis of virus-specific polypeptides in both reticulocyte lysate and wheat germ in vitro translation systems. The L-(4,5-3H)-leucine-labeled products ranged in molecular mass from Mr 190 to 33 kD. The 33 kD product, synthesized after only 15 min incubation, was the only major polypeptide that immunoprecipitated with antiserum to CarLV. Coat-protein synthesis does not occur as a result of proteolytic processing, but may arise as a result of translation of a subgenomic RNA species. Subgenomic RNA species were not detected by Northern hybridization of CarLV cDNA to either viral RNA or total nucleic acid from systemically infected plants, although CarLV-specific dsRNA species equivalent to 1.6 and 2.1 kb were detected.