Chapter 5 Flashcards
Biological entity that is known to infect every type of cellular organism.
Virus
Early researchers found that when infectious fluids were passed through porcelain filters designed to trap bacteria, the fluid that came through was still infectious/pathogenic.
; This result proved that an infection would be caused by a fluid containing agent smaller than bacteria, thus introducing the concept of _________ ______.
Filterable virus
This person hypothesized that rabies was caused by a living thing smaller than bacteria
He also proposed the term virus which is Latin for poison
Louis Pasteur
Loeffler and Frosch discovered what?
An animal virus that caused foot-and-mouth disease in cattle
Ivanovski and Beijerinck showed what?
That a disease in Tobacco was caused by a virus.
Seawater contain ___ million viruses per millimeter
10 million
What are some questions that remain about virology.
- Are they organisms; that is, are they alive?
- What role did viruses play in the evolution of life?
- How can they jump from other species to suddenly cause severe disease in humans?
- How can particles so small and simple be capable of causing disease and death?
- What is the connection between viruses and cancer? (our entire genome is stored in DNA and accessed in useable pieces in RNA, so if a virus has nucleic acids it can be detrimental to the RNA in our cells.)
Terminology to describe viruses instead of ‘alive’ and ‘dead’
Active and inactive
The Viral Debate
- Since viruses are unable to multiply independently from the host cell, they are not living things and should be called infectious molecules.
(cannot replicate on their own and require a host cell -> so not alive) - Even though viruses do not exhibit most of the processes of cells, they can direct them, and thus are certainly more than inert and lifeless molecules.
The Vital Role of Viruses in Evolution
- Infect cells and influence their genetic make up.
- Shape the way cells, tissues, bacteria, plants, and animals have evolved.
- 8% of the human genome consists of sequences that come from viruses.
- 10-20% of bacterial DNA contains viral sequences.
What does it mean that viruses are obligate intracellular parasites?
It means that they cannot multiply unless they invade a specific host cell and instruct its genetic and metabolic machinery to make and release quantities of new viruses.
Properties of Viruses
- are obligate intracellular parasites of bacteria, algae, fungi, plants, protozoa, and animals
- The amount of viruses on earth is approximately 10x the amount of bacteria and archaea combined (partially because they multiply so rapidly, and because they can infect so many eukaryotes)
- Are ubiquitous in nature and have had a major impact on development of biological life
- Size ranging from 20-1000nm
- Continued on other slides….
Are not cells; structure is very compact and economical
Do not independently fulfill the characteristics of life
Viruses
What is the basic structure of a virus?
Consists of a protein shell (capsid) surrounding a nucleic acid core
-> protein coat with a string of nucleic acids
; nucleic acid can be either RNA or DNA but not both
; nucleic acid can be double-stranded DNA or RNA, or single-stranded DNA or RNA
How do viruses multiply?
By taking control of the host cell’s genetic material and regulating the synthesis and assembly of new viruses
TRUE or FALSE:
Viruses lack enzymes for most metabolic processes and lack machinery for synthesizing proteins.
TRUE
What are the main criteria currently used to group viruses that take into account the actual nature of the virus particles themselves instead of being based on their hosts and the disease they cause?
Hosts and diseases they cause, structure, chemical composition, and similarities in genetic make up
International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)
in charge of classifying and categorizing viruses
*it is difficult to classify viruses, and their classifications are constantly changing
What is a reason that viruses can multiply so rapidly?
Because they only have a protein coat and string of nucleic acids to replicate, vs eukaryotes that have multiple structures and organelles to replicate and bacteria/archaea (prokaryotes) that also have more structure to replicate.
Viruses are __________.
; ultramicroscopic (has to have a much higher resolution to be visible)
; range from 20-1000nm in size
Viruses are not ___; and their structure is very ________ and ________.
; cells
; compact
; economical
TRUE OR FALSE:
Viruses do not independently fulfill the characteristic of life.
TRUE
True or False:
Viruses have molecules on their surface that dictate which host cells they should and could attach to.
The molecules also dictate how virulent the virus is.
True
According to the ICTV, how many orders and families of viruses are there?
8 orders and 38 families
*another 84 families not yet assigned to any order.