The methods of physical chemistry will be used to study (1) the mechanism of polymerization of the coat protein of tobacco mosaic virus and (2) the mechanism of the spontaneous reconstitution of this protein with the viral RNA. Special emphasis will be placed on studies of the kinetics of these reactions using rapid reaction techniques in order to characterize elementary steps and intermediates in the overall reaction. The RNA sequence specificity of the nucleation reaction will be studied using oligonucleotides of known sequence.