File:Biophysical science (1962) (20374832332).jpg

Title: Biophysical science
Identifier: biophysicalscien00acke (find matches)
Year: 1962 (1960s)
Authors: Ackerman, Eugene, 1920-
Subjects: Biophysics
Publisher: Englewood Cliffs, N. J. , Prentice-Hall
Contributing Library: MBLWHOI Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MBLWHOI Library

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Protein Coat 2,500 Globular Molecules Wound in Helices 170 A Figure 15. The structure of tobacco mosaic virus. The figure pictorially represents results of X-ray diffraction data. Another plant virus whose gross structure has been determined is bushy stunt tomato virus (BSV). The particles of BSV are spherical, but, just as TMV, consist of a nucleic acid core plus a surrounding envelope of protein. These structures for TMV and BSV are in accord with the view of virus activity presented in the previous chapter. 7. Summary The X-ray study of the structure of living matter is a fascinating and growing field. It has made possible discoveries of the steric form of complex high polymers such as proteins and nucleic acids, both of which are responsible for many of the properties of all living systems. These studies, based on X-ray diffraction, have revealed both a com- plexity that was previously beyond imagination, and a simplicity and an ordering of atoms on a much larger scale than had been previously sus- pected. Analyses at the molecular level have contributed many of the major steps taken in recent years to the understanding of living matter. The advances discussed in this chapter are not the result of X-ray diffraction studies alone; rather, a great many divergent approaches

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