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. 1971 Apr;7(4):524–530. doi: 10.1128/jvi.7.4.524-530.1971

Electron Microscope Study of Ribonucleic Acid of Myxoviruses

Kwok-Kwong Li a,1, J T Seto a
PMCID: PMC356153  PMID: 4106971

Abstract

Intact ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules in an extended form were extracted from purified influenza virus and observed in the electron microscope. For this study, the RNA extraction procedure and the Kleinschmidt protein monolayer technique were modified. The mean lengths of RNA from X7, X7-F1, and WSN strains of influenza virus were found to be 2.69, 2.55, and 2.37 μm, respectively. From these measurements, the corresponding estimated molecular weights would be 2.9, 2.8, and 2.5 × 106 daltons. X7 and WSN RNA preparations were exposed to pH 3 to disrupt intact molecules. Histograms of length measurements showed five peaks, which were interpreted to represent the five pieces of RNA reported to exist in the influenza virion. X7 RNA appeared to be more stable than WSN RNA when stored at 4 C. The profiles of histograms of incomplete virus RNA suggest that the high molecular-weight component is missing. In preliminary experiments on Newcastle disease virus RNA, molecules of various lengths were observed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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