With the exception of phage Qbeta, the RNAs of all the other small icosahedral RNA viruses so far examined contain a poly (A) tract. This tract has been implicated in the infectivity of poliovirus RNA. We have now shown that Nodamura virus, a divided genome virus from which infective RNA can be extracted, does not contain any poly (A) tracts. This evidence with Nodamura virus shows that poly (A) is not a necessary requirement for the infectivity of virus RNA molecules.