Exam 2- Basics of Infection Flashcards
Susceptible cell
A cell that has a functional receptor for viral attachment and entry, but it may or may not support viral replication
Resistant cell
No receptor, may or may not support viral replication. Does not allow entry of the virus
What 2 characteristics must a cell have to allow viral uptake?
The cell must be susceptible and permissive to allow viral uptake and successful replication. For example, HIV replicates in CD4 T cells much better than it does in macrophages
Permissive cell
May allow replication of a virus, but may or may not be susceptible
How do we propagate viruses to study them in the lab?
The first method used was replicating the virus in chicken eggs- the virus grown using this method include influenza, HSV, mumps, and others
Immortalized cell lines
Used to culture viruses, these scientists won the Nobel prize in 1954. Cell lines used included primary human foreskin fibroblasts, mouse fibroblasts, and HeLa cells
How is infectivity measured?
Using the number of virus particles (viral titer)
Methods of measuring infectivity (6)
- Nucleic acid-based assays (RT-PCR, HTS)
- Plaque assay
- End-point dilution assay
- Serological assay (ELISA, immunostaining)
- Hemagglutination
- Electron microscopy/imaging
Plaque assay
Originally used to observe how bacteriophages infected bacteria, but they were adopted for mammalian cell culture. It is a measure of how many plaques are produced by viral infection on a culture dish. Plaques are a zone of clearance on the culture plate, because the cells have been infected and killed. More plaques demonstrate a higher level of infectivity or a higher concentration of the virus
Endpoint dilution assays
Based on cytopathic effects when viruses infect a cell- based on physiological and morphological effects. These assays quantify the viral titer in terms of tissue culture infectious dose. The cells are plated and diluted, and observed for a specific time period depending on the virus. If you see the morphological changes caused by the virus, the cell is scored as +, if not, the cell is scored as minus. The tissue culture infectious dose is determined based on the number of + wells. EDAs are not a very direct measure of virus titer
Electron microscopy
Imaging to count the number of virus particles
Cytopathic effects
Physiological and morphological changes when a virus infects a cell. The cell shape may change from its original structure. Some virus may cause cells to fuse together- like Koplik spots caused by measles
Tissue culture infectious dose (TCID)
The proportion of + wells in an end point dilution assay. + wells indicate an infected cell with morphological changes. If 50% of the wells are +, TCID is expressed as TCID50
How are plaque assays conducted if a virus doesn’t kill the cell?
You can engineer the virus to include beta-galactosidase as a fusion protein, which forms blue plaques.
How are the number of plaques in a plaque assay expressed?
In terms of plaque-forming units (PFU). PFU per mL is the best way to measure viral titer, and it gives you an idea of infectivity
Particle-to-PFU ratio
Every virus has a characteristic particle-to-PFU ratio that it produces in a plaque assay. Although a single particle can initiate an infection or form a plaque, not every particle is infectious- it could be damaged. For some viruses, you would need thousands of virus particles to cause one plaque. The lower the PFU, the higher the infectivity of the virus
Reverse transcription mechanism
- The RNA molecule extends its 3’ hydroxyl end using reverse transcriptase, which acts as a polymerase. tRNA acts as a primer
- A template transfer is necessary once there is no more RNA template to make additional DNA. There are R regions on DNA and RNA that are complementary to each other
- The 2 complementary regions anneal so the 3’ hydroxyl end can continue to expand
- As the DNA is synthesized, RNA is degraded
Polypurine track
The RNA sequence that cannot be degraded by reverse transcriptase. It acts as a primer for the synthesis of the second strand of DNA
RNase
Removes both RNA primers after reverse transcription
+ strand DNA synthesis
Each strand in the double helix acts as a template for synthesis of a new, complementary strand. New DNA is made by enzymes called DNA polymerases, which require a template and a primer (starter) and synthesize DNA in the 5’ to 3’ direction.
Multiplicity of infection
The number of infectious particles per cell. For example, an MOI of 10 means that there are 10 virus particles per cell. The number can be misleading as the distribution is random (following Poisson distribution)- some cells may get a few virus particles while others might get none.
Importance of MOI
The MOI can change the response of cells to the infection, so knowing the MOI is important in understanding the kinetics of viral infection. In order to ensure that all cells are infected in the laboratory, you can use a higher MOI. This is called a one-step growth analysis
One-step growth analysis
After cells are infected with a virus, there will be an eclipse period, and then a sudden burst in the number of infectious virus particles. If only a fraction of the cells are infected, the viral particles produced by the first round of infectious cells will go on to infect the healthy cells. There will then be another cycle of the eclipse period and then the burst. Knowing the MOI is necessary for this analysis
Uses of a one-step growth analysis (4)
- Understanding the properties of viruses
- Understanding the infectivity of two different strains of a virus
- Understanding the kinetics of viral infection
- To test antiviral drugs- you should be using an MOI that’s higher than 1, so there’s only one step of growth
During infection, how does the location of the virus change?
After the eclipse period, and until the latent period, the virus is intracellular. Beyond the latent period, the virus has shed into the extracellular environment
Hemagglutination
A phenomenon commonly observed in influenza, where red blood cells are agglutinized (form a cloud/lattice-like structure). Can occur in any virus with glycoproteins or fusion proteins on their cell surface. In wells, non-agglutinized cells form a “button” shape in the middle of the well, while agglutinized cells form a “cloud-like” appearance.
Immunostaining
Uses an antibody, conjugated with a fluorescent marker, against a particular viral protein or antigen. Then uses an immunofluorescent assay. If the antibody is able to bind to the antigen, the cell will appear fluorescent. The more binding that occurs, the brighter the fluorescence. Can be direct (the antibody binds directly to the antigen) or indirect
Indirect immunostaining
The primary antibody (without the fluorochrome) binds to the viral antigen. The secondary antibody (with the fluorochrome) binds to the primary antibody. It recognizes the Fc fragment of the primary antibody
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)
Similar to immunostaining, however, an enzyme is used to trigger a color change in the substrate rather than a fluorochrome. ELISA is able to detect either a viral protein (antigen) or virus specific antibodies. Can be direct or indirect (using 2 antibodies)
Viral antigen ELISA
Targets a captured antibody on the viral surface. The viral antigen is bound to the captured antibody, and a second antibody (bound to the indicator) binds the viral antigen
Viral antibody ELISA
An antibody in the sample (IgG) binds to the viral antigen on the cell surface. An anti-IgG antibody, bound to an indicator, is then used to bind to the initial antibody
Live-cell imaging
Live, single virus particles can be viewed through imaging. Fluorescent stains are used to target specific viral particles and cell structures