[Electron microscopic study of the structural organization of cholera phage C]

Electron microscopy methods were used to determine the main parameters of the structural organization of cholera "C" phage. The particles of the phage were found to consist of a capsid of icosahedral shape and a thin noncontractile process. The capsid with the triangulation number 7 consists of 72 morphological subunits and contains DNA with the molecular weight of (68.16 +/- 1.63) x 10(6) daltons. The process of the phage consists of 216 morphological subunits and ends with a peculiar adsorption apparatus including a distal filament and three fibrils with knobs at the ends.