Chapter 6, Problem 14P

Bacterial transformation and bacteriophage labeling experiments proved that DNA was the hereditary material in bacteria and in DNA-containing viruses. Some viruses do not contain DNA but have RNA inside the phage particle. An example is the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) that infects tobacco plants, causing lesions in the leaves.

Two different variants of TMV exist that have different forms of a particular protein in the virus particle that can be distinguished. It is possible to reconstitute TMV in vitro (in the test tube) by mixing purified proteins and RNA. The reconstituted virus can then be used to infect the host plant cells and produce a new generation of viruses. Design an experiment to show that RNA, rather than protein, acts as the hereditary material in TMV.