Assembly and Stability of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Particle

Abstract

This chapter explores the recent studies on the chemistry of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), which provides insight into both the molecular basis of virus pathogenicity and the basic mechanism of information transfer from nucleic acid to protein. The structural and physical chemical studies on TMV considered in this chapter provide a picture of the way in which the viral nucleic acid is packaged for transmission, and illustrate some general principles regarding the molecular organization of biological structures. The chapter discusses that the stability of virus particles is a property of their structural organization. The nature of this structural organization is analyzed in a number of different ways. First, it describes the physical and geometrical principles that apply to the construction of a virus particle. Second, the arrangement of the molecules—which build the virus particle—is determined by X-ray analysis and electron microscopy. Third, from the known structure and the construction principles, the physicochemical observations on the process of virus assembly and disassembly are also interpreted. Fourth, by combination of chemical, physicochemical, and structural studies the nature of some of the specific noncovalent bonding determines the virus structure that can be established. The ultimate goal is the construction of a molecular model of the virus particle, which would account for all its structural properties.