The Fine Structure of Bacteriophages

Abstract

SUMMARY: The ‘negative contrast’ method for the preparation of viruses for electron microscopy was used to study 22 different bacteriophages. A great variety of features is described, leading to some morphological grouping. The use of uranyl acetate on coli phage T 5 revealed subunit structure in both the head and tail, features not shown by the conventional phosphotungstic acid treatment.