Polyacrylamide Gel Separation and Molecular Weight Determination of the Components of Cucumber Mosaic Virus RNA

The six principal components of cucumber mosaic virus RNA were eluted from polyacrylamide gels. After reaction with formaldehyde, their molecular weights were determined by means of sedimentation velocity ultracentrifugation. The molecular weights found were 0.91 million Daltons (mixture of components C₂ and C₁); 0.68 million Daltons (component B); 0.33 million Daltons (component A); 0.11 million Daltons (component 0); and 0.01 million Daltons (component 00). Individual molecular weights of components C₂ and C₁ (determined by polyacrylamide electrophoresis) were 1.01 million and 0.89 million Daltons respectively.