0311 Intro to virology Flashcards
Understand the basic structure and function of bacteria and viruses What is a virus Diversity and classification of viruses Understand basic microbiology terms and concepts in the context of health and disease Virus-host interactions Cellular level to whole animal Tropism Interactions with the immune system How can we study microorganisms How this can limit knowledge
Why is the discovery of anti-viral drugs so challenging in comparison to antibiotics
Because of the limits of studying viruses in a clinical context (talk about viruses that we can and can’t grow,limits of studying human samples, other models that are used, etc)
List and describe 3 essential functions of cells that viruses lack
Lack genes for mitochondria (cannot produce energy) and ribsomes (cannot construct proteins, functional products, etc). They also liek endoplasmic reticulum and golgi apparatus (stolen from host membranes)
List and define the 3 levels of viral tropism
Cellular (which cells can viruses prolerate in), Primary tissue/organ (which tissue/organ does the virus go immediately after infection) and secondary tropism (where does the virus spread during infection)
List some factors that influence the outcome of infection
Dose, host genetics, host age, immune status and route of exposure
Which part of the immune system is triggered first during a virus infection
The innate immune system
Broadly speaking, what is a virus
An obligate parasite with no metabolic processes
What are the 3 components of a virus
Genetic material (DNA or RNA), a capsid (protective capsule made of protein) and in some cases an envelope of lipids and carbohydrates
List 4 classification categories of viruses
Any 4 (serotype, genonome nucleic acid type, genomic architecture, symmetry of capsid, replication strategy, genome sequence)
What is a virion
A virion is the physical structure transmitted between hosts (may or may not be infectious
What is a capsid
A protein shelll that surrounds and protects the virus genome in the virion
Define infectious unit
It is defined as the amount of virus required to cause infection (in most cases a single virion is never an infectious unit)
What is specific infectivity
The ratio of virions to infectious units
What are the 6 broad steps of virus replication (as described by tsharcke)
Attachment, entry, viral gene expression, virus genome replication, assembly of new virions, exit)
