Virus Flashcards
Is a virus living or nonliving? What 3 things is it made of?
It’s a non living particle made of proteins, nucleic acids, and sometimes lipids.
Can viruses procreate?
Technically no. They can only reproduce by infecting living cells.
What kind of microscope do you need to see a virus and why?
You need an electron microscope because it’s too small otherwise.
Do viruses contain genetic information?
Oooh Baby Yes. RNA and DNA
What surrounds a virus’s genetic information?
Their surrounded by a protein coat called a capsid.
How many genes does a typical virus have?
Anything from 2 to hundreds of them.
What is the shape of a virus?
Many different shapes.
How do viruses get inside cells?
They have proteins on their surface that allow them to trick the cell membrane into letting them in.
After a virus enter’s a host cell, what happens?
They insert their genetic material into the cell and use the cell’s genetic information to reproduce.
Do viruses replicate immediately?
Some yes some stay inactive for a while.
Name two patterns a virus can take in order to infect a host.
- Lytic Infection
2. Lysogenic Infection
What is the pattern for lytic infections?
It enters the cell, uses the cell’s DNA to multiply itself to a point where the cell will explode. Then the viruses go and do it to other cells. This is done extremely quickly.
What is the pattern for lysogenic infections?
It enters the host cell but instead of killing the host cell by killing it it just reproduces itself and the host cell before killing it. It stays this way until there is a trigger. When this trigger happens, the virus becomes active and will start reproducing like the lytic infection.
What is prophage?
It’s when the virus DNA gets infected into the host’s cell DNA. It would take a trigger for it to come out of there like a lytic infectoin.
Do most viruses contain RNA or DNA?
RNA. 70% of the viruses contain it.
