Introduction to Virology Flashcards
What is the biomass of bacterial viruses on the planet?
Bacteriophage weighs about 1 femtogram = 10^-15 gm
10^30 total bacteriophage particles
So biomass = (10^-15 * 10^30)
= space for 200 million light years if arranged head to tail
Prokaryotes (bacteria + archaea) represent = _____ % of the biomass and ___% nucleic acid containing particles
90%, 10%
Viruses represent = _____ % of the biomass and ___% nucleic acid containing particles
5%, 94%
Endogenous viruses represent ___% of the human genome
8%
Innate immunity
- Mucus barrier breached -> Host Pattern Recognition Receptor (PRR) recognizes Pathogen Associated Molecular Pattern (PAMP) ->Activation of various transcription factors releasing cytokines and chemokines by dendritic cells, monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils -> Pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines stimulate NK cells -> NK cells kill virus infected cells directly throudh degranulation/receptor mediated apoptosis.
- PRR recognition -> Interferon regulatory factors (IRF) activated -> Travel to nucleus -> Promotion of transcription of type I IFN -> IFN released -> bind to IFN receptors on cells -> JAK/STAT signaling pathway -> Interferon stimulated genes activated and transcribed -> Increase cell’s ability to resist viral replication
Adaptive Immunity
Type I IFN -> Matures DC and Macrophages into APCs -> APCs process viral proteins and present them on MHC molecules (Class I - CD8, Class II - CD4) -> APC migrate to lymph -> If naive T cells recognize the molecules, become activated helper T cells or cytotoxic T cells -> CD4+ release cytokines activating other immune cells like B lymphocytes and CD8+ -> B cells recognize through their own receptors plus become activated with the help of T follicular helper cells -> B cells become plasma cells -> produce antibodies -> Some B and T cells become memory cells
- CD8+ kill through releasing perforin and granzymes
Good virus example
Dichantelium lanuginosum (Panic grass) [Found in geothermal soils in Yellowstone National Park, USA, grows at >50 degree C] -> Curvularia protuberata (Fungus) -> Curvularia thermal tolerance virus (CThTV)
Good virus example 2
IMLYGIC (talimogene laherparepvec) - Weakened HSV1; oncolytic virus
What is a virus?
An infectious, obligate, intracellular parasite comprised of genetic material (DNA/RNA) surrounded by a protein coat called capsid and/or an envelope derived from a host cell membrane
Unique Virus features
- Do not divide by binary fission
- Contain either DNA/RNA
- Do not contain muramic acid
- Not sensitive to antibiotics
- Do not grow on artificial media
- Do not contain protein synthesis machinery
Steps of life cycle
Attachment -> Entry (Endocytosis) -> Uncoating -> Replication -> Viral mRNA used to make viral proteins -> Assembly -> Release
What begins the next infectious cycle?
Disassembly of the virion in the next host cell/organism
One of the smallest viruses
Poliovirus (30nm) - Ribosomes (20nm)
One of the largest viruses
Smallpox viruses (250nm) - Approximate size of the smallest bacteria Chlamydia
Herpesvirus
200 nm
Why can viruses not be seen with light microscope?
Viruses range from 20-300 nm; light microscope have a resolution limit of 200nm due to wavelength of visible light; cannot see lower than that.
How many viruses can fit on the head of a pin?
500 million rhinoviruses.
head of a pin = 2mm = 2000 microns
Pandoravirus salinus
Giant virus
Genome approx 2.5 million base pairs
Drop foot syndrome
Characteristic of polio
Variolation
Inoculation of healthy individuals with materials from a smallpox pustule
Who introduced variolation?
Lady Montagu
Vaccination
Edward Jenner, England, 1790s
Concept of microorganisms
Leeuwenhoek, Pasteur, Koch
Dimitri Ivanowsky
Studied the tobacco mosaic disease (TMD) and defined it as filterable virus (virus = poison), 1892; Virus discovery
Martinus Beijerinck
TMV= responsible for TMD, contagious, living liquid, inactivated by boiling, 1898
Loeffler and Frosch
Agent of foot and mouth disease (1898)
Filterable, 0.2 um; replicate only in host, not in broth
1901
First human virus (yellow fever virus)
1903
Rabies
1906
Variola virus
1908
Chicken leukaemia virus, poliovirus
1911
Rous sarcoma virus
1915
Bacteriophages
1933
Influenza virus
1930
Electron microscope; 100,000 fold magnifying power; direct visualization of virus particles
T4
Complex, nonenveloped, intricate tail and head
TMV
Nonenveloped, helical
Rhabdovirus, vesicular stomatitis virus
Enveloped
Rotavirus
Nonenveloped, icosahedral
Order-
Family-
Genus-
(Species)
Order - Viriales (8)
Family - Viridae (125) (12 from Antarctica)
Genus - Virus (677)
Species - 2618 (10000 species from Lake Limnopolar, Antarctica)
Why study viruses?
- They outnumber cellular life by at least 10:1
- They drive global cycles
- Comprise the greatest biodiversity on earth
- Source of new pathogens
Two simple facts about viruses
- Obligate intracellular parasites; only function after they replicate in a host cell
- must make mRNA translated by host ribosome; parasites of host protein synthesis machinery
Why do we use cell cultures rather than animals to conduct studies on viruses?
Cell cultures provide a much simpler and more homogenous experimental system.