14 : 6/ Structure of Viruses 261 



Virus particles are too small to view with the light microscope. They 

 are studied by conventional bacteriological techniques and by many 

 complex physical techniques including electron microscopy, ultra- 

 centrifugation, tracer analysis, and electrophoresis. A clearer under- 

 standing of the mode of action of viruses in general, and especially 

 bacteriophages, has expanded knowledge of the cell surface, of the 

 relationship of nucleic acids to metabolism, and most dramatically, of 

 genetics. 



REFERENCES 



Viruses are responsible for serious diseases of man, plants, and animals. 

 They have received much attention and are discussed in great detail in many 

 books. Especially recommended for further reading are : 



1. Smith, K. M., and M. A. Lauffer, 'ed., Advances in Virus Research (New 

 York: Academic Press, Inc.). This appears annually; the first volume is 

 dated 1953. Each volume contains at least one chapter which should be 

 of interest to most biophysics students. 



2. Pollard, E. C, The Physics of Viruses (New York: Academic Press, Inc., 

 1953). 



3. Wolstenholme, G. E. W., and Elaine C. P. Millar, eds., CIBA Foundation 

 Symposium of the Nature of Viruses (Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown & 

 Company, 1957). 



References 4 and 5 discuss Benzer's work on the genetic fine structure of 

 the T4 E. coliphage which was reviewed in Section 5 of this chapter. 



4. Benzer, Seymour, "The Elementary Units of Heredity," A Symposium on 

 the Chemical Basis of Heredity, McElroy, W. D., and Bentley Glass, eds. 

 (Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1957) pp. 70-93. 



5. Lennox, E. S., "Genetic Fine-Structure Analysis," Rev. Mod. Phys. 31: 

 242-248 (Jan. 1959). 



