The nucleotide sequence of DNA complementary to the eighth largest (S8) of the 12 genome segments of rice dwarf virus was determined. This genome segment is 1424 nucleotides in length and has a single long open reading frame extending 1260 nucleotides from the first AUG triplet (residues 24 to 26). The predicted translational product comprises 420 amino acids and has an Mr of 46,422. The amino acid sequences of several peptide fragments of the major outer capsid protein were found to be contained in the predicted translational product of the above nucleotide sequence. This protein, previously reported to be 43K, is encoded by genome segment S8 and therefore renamed the 46K protein.