The Viruses

The Viruses: Biochemical, Biological, and Biophysical Properties, Volume 2: Plant and Bacterial Viruses deals with the biochemistry, biology, and biophysics of plant viruses. The viruses considered are tobacco and turnip yellow mosaic viruses; tobacco ringspot virus; potato virus X; and bacterial viruses, such as lysogenic bacteria and phages. This volume is organized into 10 chapters and begins with a discussion of the tobacco mosaic virus and other plant viruses, emphasizing the process of infection and synthesis and general features of the host-virus system. The next chapters focus on the purification and protein components of plant viruses; the chemical correlates of biological variability in viruses; and biological cycles of plant viruses in insect vectors. This book describes the bacteriophage, which is considered as a model virus in comparison with typical microorganisms and cellular organelles. It also introduces the reader to the kinetics of phage reproduction; the intracellular multiplication of bacterial viruses; and the process of lysogeny in bacteria. The book concludes with a chapter on irradiation of phage with ultraviolet light, decay of incorporated radiophosphorus (''suicide''), and ionizing radiation (usually X-rays). Biologists, botanists, biochemists, biophysicists, and microbial physiologists will find this book a rich source of information on plant and bacterial viruses.