Date of Award:

5-1972

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Plants, Soils, and Climate

Department name when degree awarded

Botany

Committee Chair(s)

G. W. Cochran

Committee

G. W. Cochran

Committee

O. S. Cannon

Committee

D. L. Mumford

Committee

W. Dewey

Abstract

A small tobacco mosaic virus nucleoprotein unit, thought to be the basic infectious unit of TMV, was isolated and purified from systemically-infected Turkish tobacco leaves. This small TMV particle was characterized by a doughnut shaped form as shown in the electron micrographs and by the induction of gray lesions when inoculated on Scotia bean leaves. Four carbodiimides, organic chemical condensing reagents, were compared for effectiveness in inducing polymerization of this starting material into longer rod-shaped viral particles. Dicyclohexyl carbodiimide, a wax-like solid, was found to be the most suitable reagent when used with an organic solvent such as ethanol in order to avoid the generation of a two-phase system in the reaction tube.

After reaction with the carbodiimide the polymerized TMV particles induced almost typical brown lesions on Scotia bean leaves and the length of the particles varied from 60 to 300 nm.

Included in

Botany Commons

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