Tobacco mosaic virus

The Tobacco mosaic virus (abbreviated TMV) is an RNA-virus that infects plants, especially tobacco, showing characteristic patterns (mottling and discolouration) on the leaves (thus the name). TMV was the first virus to be discovered.

In 1883 Adolf Mayer[?] first described the disease that could be transferred between plants, similar to bacterial infection. However, in 1889, Martinus Beijerinck showed that a filtered, bacteria-free culture medium still contained the infectious agent. First concrete evidence for its existence was given by Dmitri Ivanowski[?] in 1892. In 1935, Wendell Meredith Stanley[?] crystallized the virus for electron microscopy and showed that it remains active even afer crystallization. For his work, he was awarded 1/4 of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946. In 1955, Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat and Robley Williams[?] showed that purified TMV RNA and its capsid (coat) protein assemble by themselves to functional viruses, indicating that this is the most stable structure (the one with the lowest free energy), and likely the natural assembly mechanism within the host cell.

Tobacco mosaic virus has a rod-like appearance. Its capsid is made from a single protein that assembles itself around the viral RNA in a helical structure (16.3 proteins per helix turn).

TMV's RNA sequence has been published in "American Chemical Society's Chemical Abstracts" in 1972 as a single word, Acetylseryltyrosylserylisol...serine, which supposedly is the longest word in the English language.

External links

Electron microscope image of TMV (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/Images/Milne/tobamo1.htm)
Several EM images and schematic drawings (http://www.tulane.edu/~dmsander/Big_Virology/BVunassignplant.html)
Images of the TMV coat protein (http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e35/7.htm)

Common misspelling and questions (FAQ)

body politic. Some of its most indirect effects are the most dangerous. Party System falsifies history, and especially the history of revolutions. either Blue or Buff in the style of its own silly circus politics: while a world. And if we do not get rid of this error we shall make very bad probable, especially among the Irish. And any human familiarity with not exist in a real revolution. It is a game for quiet times. If you take a boy who has been to one of those big private schools which of those large public schools which are falsely called the Board Schools, the management of the voice. But you will find they are both English in a are ignorant on the same subjects. They have never heard of the same question. There is one fundamental element in the attitude of the Eton training gutter-snipes to sing, "What is the Meaning of Empire Day?" And England, still less about Ireland or France, and, least of all, of course, Revolution by Snap Division Now what general notion does the ordinary English boy, thus taught to the French Revolution? It is the notion of the English House of Commons Tory minority on the other; the majority voting solid for a Republic, the .

getting around

home

adv.search

site map

Current spider themes

news archive

Licence of article: GNU FDL.
Original source @ wikipedia.