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Micro World

How small is a Qβ bacteriophage?

A Qβ bacteriophage is about 28 nm across.

What is measured: icosahedral RNA virus, diameter

Qβ Bacteriophage (28 nm) drawn to scale beside a ribosome (25 nm) and a flu virus (100 nm)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: Ribosome (25 nm), Qβ Bacteriophage (28 nm) and Flu virus (100 nm).

Compare

How big is that, really?

  • About the same width as a ribosome
  • About 3 would fit across a flu virus
  • As wide as about 14 DNA double helices side by side

Learn

Facts about Qβ Bacteriophage

Qβ is one of the smallest known RNA bacteriophages and has been widely used as a model in molecular biology.

Source: ViralZone: Qbeta; ICTV virus taxonomy

Micro World

NameSizeCompared with Qβ Bacteriophage
Ferritin Molecule12 nm0.43×
Colloidal Gold Nanoparticle20 nm0.71×
Bacteriophage Phi X17427 nm0.96×
Qβ Bacteriophage28 nmthis page
Silver Nanoparticle40 nm1.4×
Fibrinogen Molecule45 nm1.6×
Silicon Nanowire50 nm1.8×
West Nile Virus50 nm1.8×
Human Papillomavirus55 nm2×
Cyanophage P-SSP760 nm2.1×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: Qβ Bacteriophage or Colloidal Gold Nanoparticle?

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