Influenza A

Question 1

Influenza A can acheive genetic variation via

Answer 1

Mutations and recombination (independent reassortment)

Question 2

Influenza mutates at a high rate due to

Answer 2

The fact that Influenza A is a retrovirus, retroviruses do not utilise DNA polymerase during replication, DNA polymerase has proorfreading capabilities and the replicatory enzymes that Influenza A uses do not

Question 3

Influenza A can undergo recombination through independent re-assortment -

Answer 3

When influenza A strains that infect 2 different
species infect the same cell, the genomes can
recombine to form a novel strain of virus
This rapid change in virus genome is called
‘antigenic shift’

Question 4

Influenza A is a

Answer 4

(-) sense, RNA virus with a segmented genome