Disintegration of red clover mottle virus virions under different conditions of storage in vitro.

Red clover mottle virus was kept in 0.1 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, at 4, --20 and --60 degrees C for 1 and 4 weeks and 3 months. The degree of virion disintegration was the highest at --20 degrees C and the lowest at 4 degrees C. Two cycles of freezing and thawing destroyed the virions. In frozen samples (at both --20 and --60 degrees C), the nucleoprotein sedimentation component M was disintegrated more than component B.