Lec 1 - Intro to virology Flashcards
1
Q
What are the 4 traits of viruses?
A
- Obligate intracellular with infectious extracellular phase
- Encode capsomeres
- Replicate by spontaneous assembly
- Capacity to evolve
2
Q
What is the general structure of a virus?
A
- Genome of RNA or DNA
- Capsid or nucleocapsid if closely associated with genome
- Envelope (optional)
- Icosahedral or helical capsid
3
Q
What are virus like particles?
A
Capsid without genome
4
Q
How does the Baltimore system classify viruses?
A
How a virus makes and uses mRNA.
Positive sense if immediately translatable; negative sense if not.
5
Q
What is a quasispecies?
A
Dynamic distribution of closely related but not identical replicons
6
Q
How are viruses visualised with light microscopy?
A
Testing for cytopathic effect on cell culture monolayers using a plaque assay
7
Q
What is a novel virus?
A
A new strain not seen before in humans
