The Mechanism of RNA Replication

Abstract

The discovery of the RNA-containing coliphage f2 by Loeb and Zinder (1961) was rapidly followed by the isolation of related phages such as MS2 (Strauss and Sinsheimer, 1963), R17 (Paranchych and Graham, 1962) and others. The armamentarium of techniques accumulated during several decades of T-phage technology thus became available to those concerned with RNA viruses. Because some of the difficulties and disadvantages inherent in the use of plant and animal systems could not be easily obviated, a number of laboratories turned their attentions to the bacterial systems.