  Viruses can amplify their genomes following different replication modes (RMs)
ranging from the stamping machine replication (SMR) model to the geometric
replication (GR) model. Different RMs are expected to produce different
evolutionary and dynamical outcomes in viral quasispecies due to differences in
the mutations accumulation rate. Theoretical and computational models revealed
that while SMR may provide RNA viruses with mutational robustness, GR may
confer a dynamical advantage against genomes degradation. Here, recent advances
in the investigation of the RM in positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses
are reviewed. Dynamical experimental quantification of Turnip mosaic virus RNA
strands, together with a nonlinear mathematical model, indicated the SMR model
for this pathogen. The same mathematical model for natural infections is here
further analyzed, and we prove that the interior equilibrium involving
coexistence of both positive and negative viral strands is globally
asymptotically stable.
