Purified preparations of 16 tobamoviruses including 3 strains of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and 13 strains of tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) were investigated by the means of horizontal polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Among the representatives of ToMV, the strains from group "2" after Pelham demonstrated the highest particle mobility and the ones from group "1", causing yellow mosaic, migrated most slowly in electric field. Besides that all the ToMV strains differed among each other, all they moved significantly quicker than the TMV strains. The horizontal PAGE was applied for virus detection in plant saps and for identification of unknown isolates. The electrophoretic analysis of viral particles had a good reproducibility and reliability of the results and proved a possibility for fast screening of a large number of isolates.