Some investigators of 1950s focused their attention on viruses containing protein and RNA, but no DNA. The poliomyelitis virus, influenza virus and the virus that causes mosaic disease in tobacco plants (TMV) were thus shown to have genes made of RNA. Earlier in 1935 W. M. Stanley had reported the isolation of a crystalline protein from infected tobacco plants, which [...]
In this article we will discuss about the evidence that DNA is the genetic material in viruses. Is DNA The conclusion reached by Avery, Macleod and McCarty was not immediately accepted. Some investigators suggested that the DNA preparations contained a mutagen which caused mutation to the S form. Others pointed out that transformation was due to traces of some specific [...]
In this article we will discuss about the genetics of viruses. History of Viruses: Viruses were first discovered in 1899 when M. W. Beijerinck noticed the existence of microorganisms invisible in the microscope, that could pass through filters that stopped bacteria. In 1917 Felix d'Herelle gave the name bacteriophage (meaning eater of bacteria) to one such microbe that was parasitic [...]