The genetic material of tobacco mosaic virus is
- A. double stranded DNA
- B. single stranded DNA
- C. single stranded RNA
- D. double stranded RNA
Explanation
TMV is a rod shaped plant virus whose genome is a single strand of RNA wound in a helix inside about 2,130 identical capsomeres. It is the classic example used to show that RNA alone can carry hereditary information, proved when reconstituted TMV made new virus of the type its RNA came from. Double stranded DNA is the genome of bacteriophages such as T4, not of TMV.
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