Viruses (#1) Flashcards
(242 cards)
“virus” means _______ in latin
poison
genetic elements (DNA or RNA) that replicate independently of a cell’s chromosome, but require a living host in order to reproduce
viruses
viruses are ________ _________ parasites
obligate intracellular parasites
why are viruses called “obligate intracellular parasites?
they damage the cells they take over (parasite) + they are OBLIGATED to be inside the cells to take them over (obligate intracellular)
viruses infect _______ cell types
ALL (every living cell)
viruses are ______ infectious agents
accellular
what do viruses contain?
DNA or RNA
various shapes of DNA/RNA that viruses contain (5):
- single stranded
- double stranded
- linear
- circular
- segmented
shape of DNA/RNA: genome is one or more pieces; allows for reassortment of genome to increase their diversity
segmented
what kind of genome does influenza virus have?
segmented (can take pieces of human, swine, and bird flu to become a near virus – why we get a new vaccine every year)
we get a new flu shot every year because theres so much ___________ (due to segmented genome) that it changes our _________ reactions
reassortment; antibodies
extracellular form of viruses =
virion
the complete virus particle (nucleic acid surrounded by a protein coat, and possibly external layers); moves from host cell to host cell
virion
the protein coat that surrounds the nucleic acid in a virion is called the _______
capsid
most numerous microbe =
viruses!
size range of viruses:
10 - 2300 nm
size range of bacteria:
200 nm - 750,000 nm
virions contain a ________
nucleocapsid
what is a nucleocapsid composed of (3)?
- nucleic acid (DNA or RNA)
- protein coat (capsid)
- some have additional components
the polio virus is the size of a bacterial ________
ribosome
the most common size of viruses is up to ________ nm
400 nm
larger viruses tend to infect ________ and are _________
amoeba; aquatic
large viruses that infect amoeba have _______, which are hairs made of a similar material to peptidoglycan; make amoeba think they’re eating bacteria and then get infected by a virus
fibrils
virus structures can either be ________ or ______
enveloped or naked