Ch 27: Viruses Flashcards
Virion
- Single virus particle outside of a
cell - not alive or dead
- relies on living cells for replication
Nature of Viruses
- All viruses have same basic structure
-Nucleic acid core surrounded by
Capsid
-DNA or RNA
- Circular or Linear - No cytoplasm: not a cell
-no ribosomes - Classified by genome
Capsid
Nearly all viruses form protein sheath around nucleic acid core
-composed of 1 to a few proteins
Stores Enzymes
Some viruses store specialized emzymes not found in host
Shapes
2 simple shapes
- helical: rodlike/threadlike - Icosahedral: soccer ball shape
Complex shapes
T-even bacteria - 2 fold symmetry
-bacteriophage are viruses that
infect bacteria
Pox viruses -multilayered capsids
Viral Hosts
Infra cellular parasites in every kind of organism investigated.
Host Range (specific invasion)
-Types of organisms infected
-each type of virus has limited
host range
-Tissue tropism: inside a host virus
may only infect a certain tissues
-Viruses can remain dormant for
years
- chicken pox can reemerge as
shingles
Replication
Infecting can be thought of set of instructions
- viral genome tricks host into making more viruses
- viruses can only reproduce inside cells.
- can’t synthesize proteins- no ribosomes
- virus hijacks cell’s transcription and translation machineries to express early genes, middle genes, & late genes.
- end result is assembly & release of viruses
Viral Genomes
Vary greatly in both type of Nucleic acid and number of strands - Most RNA viruses are single stranded - replicated in host cell's cytoplasm - replication in cytosol is error prone Most DNA viruses double stranded
RNA Viruses
- Positive strand virus: viral RNA serves as mRNA
- Neg strand: genome is complementary to viral mRNA
- Retroviruses: employ reverse transcriptase to reverse transcribe viral RNA to DNA
Bacteriophage
- Viruses that infect bacteria
- Diverse and united only by bacterial hosts
- Also found in archae
- diff from bacterial viruses
HIV
- Causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) - 1st reported in 81 but originated from Africa in 50s - Some people resistant to HIV; others have HIV but don't get AIDS - Targets CD4+ cells, mainly T cells - Host usually dies from infection the body would normally fight off. - Clinical symptoms usually appear after 8-10 year latent period
CCR5 Receptor
- Used by HIV May have been used
by smallpox. - individuals without receptors are
resistant
HIV Testing
- not a test for circulating virus; test for presence of antibodies against HIV.