Molecular Weight of Poliovirus Ribonucleic Acid

Abstract

Purified poliovirus single- and double-stranded ribonucleic acids (RNA) were examined by electron microscopy. The length of both molecules was found to be 2.37 mum. The uncorrected sedimentation coefficient for single-stranded RNA is 33S, as compared to 27S for the RNA of tobacco mosaic virus. It is calculated from these results that the molecular weight of the sodium form of poliovirus is 2.6 x 10(6) daltons.