The rod of tobacco mosaic virus has been fractured by exposure to sonic radiations. Unfractured, intact tobacco mosaic virus recovered following this treatment exhibited identical serological findings as the control virus and therefore suffered no changes. Preparations of short rods obtained by the sonic treatment of tobacco mosaic virus showed an enhancement of the antibody combining capacity as compared to the control. This was due in part to the increment of exposed surface following sonic treatment and probably in part to the closer packing of antibody molecules on the smaller fragments. No changes in serological specificity nor the presence of any new antigenic determinants could be detected in the fractured particles of virus. This indicated that the new surfaces exposed possessed the same molecular configuration as the original surface.
Presented before the Section on Medical Sciences at the 113th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, December, 1946.