block D - viruses Flashcards
what are the easiest microorganisms to grow?
bacterial cells
how can animal viruses (and some plant viruses) be cultivated?
in tissue or cell cultures
what are typically the most difficult to grow?
plant viruses and you typically need the whole plant
what is a titre?
its the number of infectious units per volume of fluid
what is a plaque assay?
analogues to the bacterial colony; one way of measuring virus infectivity
they’re clear zones that develop on lawns of host cells and the lawn can be bacterial or tissue culture
each plaque results from infection by a single virus particle
what are capsids formed form?
structural subunits
what does icosohedral symmetry mean?
it means the capsid has lots of different sides
what are the different types of viral symmetry of capsids?
helical symmetry
icosohedral symmetry
what are naked viruses?
they’re viruses that don’t have a membrane, they’re not enveloped
what are naked viruses less resistant to?
the drying effects of the environment
what does a capsid consist of?
its a virion that consits of nucleic acid packaged into a protein coat
what does a nucleocapsid consist of?
nucleic acid and protein packaged into a virus is called a nucleocapside
what else can be in a cell envelope?
spike proteins
what does a lyosome do to help cells get their genomes into other cells?
they make small holes in the cell wall and lyse the bacterial cell
why do some virions carry nucleic acid polymerases?
because they’ve got RNA genomes and so they have to carry their own enzymes to replicate their genomes once they get into cells
what do neuramideases do?
they allow the liberation of viral cells from the cells they’ve infected and they cleave the glycosidic bonds
what are all the different baltimore classifications of viruses?
I- dsDNA (e.g. most bacteriophages, herpesviruses, poxviruses)
II- ssDNA (+) sense (e.g. parvoviruses)
III- dsRNA (e.g. reoviruses)
IV- ssRNA (+) sense RNA (e.g. picornaviruses, coronaviruses).
V- ssRNA (-) sense (e.g. rhabdoviruses, influenza viruses)
VI- ssRNA (+) sense with dsDNA intermediate (e.g. retroviruses)
VII- dsDNA with RNA intermediate (e.g. hepadnaviruses)
why is there a massive sponteneous increase during a one step growth experiment of virions?
because they all have the same lifecycles and grow at the same pace from early enzymes to nucleic acid synthesis to the formation of protein coats so theyre all assembled at the same time
what is the early phase of viral replication?
initiation as a whole
this consists of:
1. recognition
2. attachment
3. penetration
4. uncoating
what is the late phase of viral replication?
it consists of replication and release
replication has the following steps in it:
1. transcription
2. protein synthesis
3. genome replication
4. assembly
release has the following steps in it:
1. lysis and release
2. budding and release
what could be the receptors and viral attachment proteins involved in target cell recognition and attachment?
receptors- proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins or glycolipids
viral attachment protein- capsid, protein that extends form capsid, glycoproteins or enveloped virus
give 1 example of a specific virus, what its target cell is and what is the receptor called?
HIV-1
helper T cell
CD4
how does the process of penetration and uncoating for naked viruses go?
- attachment
- pore-mediatied penetration
- nucleic acid ejection
- cytoplasmic viral genome injected
it works like a hypodermic needle through the cell membrane and then the genome can enter the cytoplasm of the cell
what are the two different ways viral cells can penetrate and uncoat their genome?
endocytosis- for naked and enveloped cells
membrane fusion- only enveloped
what are more dependant on the host; small or large viruses?
small ones
the smaller virus, the more dependant they are
where does transcription of the viral genome occur?
in the nucleus, but not in POX viruses because they’re so big
what is viral transcription regulated by?
its regulated by the interaction of DNA binding proteins with regions of viral genome, they’re very similar to the hosts regulatory mechanism
what is transcribed first of viral genomes?
the mRNA for non-structural proteins is transcribed first because they make all the other parts first before making the structural elements so that once they make the structural elements, they can burst out of the host cell
are genome replication and translation similar?
yes
what must always be formed in the replication of RNA viruses?
DSRNA replicative intermediate must ALWAYS be formed
what does translation of viral mRNA depend on?
it depends on host cell functions
what can eukaryotic ribosomes not translate?
polycistronic mRNA
what do viruses promote?
they promote preferential translation of their mRNA
is virus assembly different depending on the structure?
yes, helical and icosahedral viruses are made up differently
what are the different ways of release of viral cells from their host cells?
- cell lysis
- exocytosis
- budding of enveloped viruses
what is a virus?
its a genetic element that cannot replicate independently of a living (host) cell
what is virology?
its the study of viruses
what is a virion?
its a virus particle and is the extracellular form of a virus
it exists outside of the hosyt and facilitates transmission from one host to another
it contains nucleic acid genome which is surrounded by a protein coat and in some cases, other layers of material
what are the phases of a virus life cycle to a susceptible host cell?
- entry (penetration)of the virion or its nucleic acid
- synthesis of virus nucleic acid and protein by cell metabolism as redirceted by virus
- assembly of capsids and packaging of viral genomes into new virirons (maturation)
- release of mature virions from host cell
what is the latent period of the viral life cycle made up of?
eclipse and maturation- this is when the virion stalls the growth of the bacteria when it infects the host cell and it starts to replictae its genome