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Different viral species contain nucleic acids that differ not only in length and nucleotide sequence but in many unexpected ways as well.

DNA is the master blueprint for life and constitutes the genetic material in all free-living organisms and most viruses. RNA is the genetic material of certain viruses, but it is also found in all living cells, where it plays an important role in certain processes such as the making of proteins.

Nucleic acids are the main information-carrying molecules of the cell, and, by directing the process of protein synthesis, they determine the inherited characteristics of every living thing. The two main classes of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).

The variety of genes on the planet in viruses exceeds, or is likely to exceed, that in all of the rest of life combined.

Physical studies of DNA had, of course, been under way for some years before analysis of virus particles began.

Human beings are a wonderful virus in some ways.

In this atmosphere I soon became interested in nucleic acids.

There's no one place a virus goes to die - but that doesn't make its demise any less a public health victory. Throughout human history, viral diseases have had their way with us, and for just as long, we have hunted them down and done our best to wipe them out.