viruses Flashcards
why may viruses be considered living
- contain genetic material
- their genetic material may undergo mutations
- able to evolve to adapt to new environments
why may viruses not be considered non living
- acellular and lack cellular organisms
- do not carry out metabolism
- unable to reproduce independently
- unable to respond to stimuli
why are viruses obligate parasites
depend on host cells to complete their reproductive cycle
negative vs positive sense RNA
negative: viral genome is complementary to viral mRNA
positive: viral genome has same sequence to viral mRNA
structure of capsid
protein coat that surrounds genome
composed of protei subunits called capsomeres
together with nucleic acid, forms nucleocapsid
function of capsid
surrounds nucleic acid and serves to protect, attach and introduce the genome into host cells
structure of envelope
a phospholipid bilayer, derived from host cell membrane, surrounding the nucleocapsid
embedded with viral glycoproteins
genome of bacteriophages
double stranded DNA
structure of genome of influenza
8 different segments of single stranded negative sense RNA, each associated with proteins
3 of the RNA segments are packed with 3 polymerase proteins which together form the enzyme RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp)
what do 5/8 of the RNA strands in influenza’s genome code for
haemaglutinin
neuraminidase
nucleoprotein
matrix protein
non structural proteins
structure of genome of HIV
2 identical copies of single stranded positive sense RNA are bound to nucleocapsid proteins
what does the HIV genome code for
contains 3 major genes: 5’ gag-pol-env-3’
gag codes for structural proteins
pol codes for HIV’s viral enzymes
env codes for the glycoproreins gp 120 and gp41
structure of HIV’s capsid
conical shaped and contains reverse transcriptase, integrase and protease
structure of influenza’s envelope
has the glycoprotein haemagglutinin and the enzyme neuraminidase embedded
structure of HIV’s envelope
has the glycoproteins gp 120 and gp 41 embedded where gp 120 is attached to gp 41