Lecture 4- Viral properties Flashcards
What are the four steps to prove that a virus causes a disease?
1) Microorganism must be found in large numbers in all diseased animals but not healthy ones
2) Organism must be isolated and grown in a pure culture
3) The isolated organism must produce the same disease once injected into a healthy animal
4) This microorganism must then be recovered from the host, isolated and be identical to the first microorganism
What is the definition of a virus?
They are infectious OBLIGATE intracellular PARASITES
- Obligate means they have to complete their life cycle after invading a host
What is the average size of a virus?
100nm
What are the two morphological varieties of viruses? What do they look like and what is the exception to these two groups
1) Non-enveloped
- have a protein capsid
- symmetrical
- e.g. Adenovirus
2) Enveloped
- protein around the genome
- lipid envelope around this derived from host membrane
- pleomorphic= different forms
- e.g. Ebola virus
**Combo of capsid and envelope= Herpes virus
What might viruses be named after and give examples
- The disease (poliovirus, rabies)
- The person who discovered it (EBV)
- The place it was discovered (Coxsackievirus)
- The part f he body affected (Rhinovirus, Hepatitis)
- The way it was spread (Dengue, Influenza)
Give the name of the classification system used to classify viruses
Baltimore Classification system
- based on genome
What are the different categories for the classification of viruses?
- dsRNA-> mRNA->protein-> assembly
- ssDNA-> dsDNA
- dsRNA->mRNA
- sense ssRNA-> protein (translated directly)
- -ve antisense ssRNA->+ RNA -> protein (transcribed first)
- ssRNA -> dsRNA (retrovirus)
What is the difference between positive and negative sense RNA?
+ve: translated immediately
-ve: virus has to carry enzymes/ machinery to convert genomes back into sense RNA
What are the largest RNA viruses and how big are they?
Coronaviruses
- around 30kb
What sort of genome do influenza and rotavirus contain?
*how many
Segmented -ve sense RNA genomes
Influenza= 8 segments
Rotavirus= 11 segments
What are the pros and cons of a segmented genome?
PRO: easy form of recombination (reassortment), can pick up new genes–> evolve
CON: difficult to pack
What is the approximate size of DNA viruses?
100s kb
What are the consequences of DNA viruses?
- can be big because DNA is more stable
- lots of accessory genes to modify host immune response
- accessory genes often lost in culture (no immune system in culture)
What are the consequences of RNA viruses
- use their own polymerase to replicate –> lack proofreading capacity –> high mutation rate
- high mutation= fast evolution
- RNA virus genome limited in size becuase of INSTABILITY
- Have to use complex coding strategies to make more protein varieties (use all three reading frames)
Describe the general replication cycle of a virus
1) ATTACHMENT to host cell by interaction between Virus Attachment Proteins (VAPs) and the host cell receptor
2) ENTRY of virus genome into host cell
3) SYNTHESIS of viral mRNA
4) TRANSLATION of viral mRNA to viral proteins using host cell ribosomes
5) REPLICATION of viral genome
6) ASSEMBLY of new virus proteins into virions. ENCAPSIDATION of new genomes
7) EXIT from infected cells and dissemination into new host