ANIMAL AND PLANT VIRUSES WITH DOUBLE-HELICAL RNA

Abstract
The genetic material of wound tumor virus, like that of reovirus, is a large double-helical ribonucleic acid. In wound tumor virus RNA the mole per cent of guanine is 19, adenine 31, cytosine 19, and uracil 31. The melting temperature of 90[degree], about 3[degree] lower than that of reovirus RNA in the same medium, probably reflects the lower G + C content in wound tumor virus RNA, namely 38 versus 44 per cent. There is no serological relationship between wound tumor virus and any of the three prototype strains of reovirus. Reoviruses possess some of the necessary attributes of viruses with tumorigenic capacity.