Production of Mutants of Tobacco Mosaic Virus by Chemical Alteration of its Ribonucleic Acid in vitro

WHILE many agents are known to act as mutagens on the living cell, there have been no convincing reports that the genetic character of isolated particles, such as viruses or transforming principles, have been changed in vitro . Recent results with tobacco mosaic virus help to overcome this difficulty. The infective unit of the virus is its ribonucleic acid component, which can be isolated in active form 1 . It is made up of 6,000 nucleotides that probably form a single chain 2 .