What is a virus? Flashcards
(34 cards)
Are viruses alive?
Viruses are infectious, intracellular, obligate parasites which are organisms that are ABSOLUTELY DEPENDENT on another living organism for reproduction.
So answer is it depends whether they are INSIDE the cell or ON the cell. When they are inside, they are very much ALIVE.
How many phases do viruses exist in?
2 phases
What is a virion?
infectious virus particle
What is De novo self-assembly?
Assembly line in the cell
What is the Global Virome?
Shows that viruses are everywhere!
They are 200 million light years and 10^30 bacteriophage particles in world’s oceans!.
Do viruses infect only some living organisms?
FALSE, viruses infect ALL living organisms.
What do viruses cause?
Viruses cause disease (such as in birth and they have a small head).
Does the human virome have more DNA or RNA in our body?
We have more DNA than RNA in our body
What percent is our human genome consists of viruses?
8% of our human genome consists of endogenous retroviruses
What is zoonosis?
Zoonosis is the crossing over between animals to humans.
This is especially dangerous since a virus can hide in an animal host and grow to potentially infecting a new kind of virus to humans.
Why are viruses important for the sea?
They are beneficial killers for seawater as the viruses will infect bacteria and kill them.
There is an abundance of viruses that outnumber bacteria.
What is gene therapy?
A type of therapeutic virus where the virus is reengineered to do good.
What is phage therapy?
A type of therapeutic virus where they insert phage into the body to kill the body’s bacteria.
P.S. The couple wrote a book called “Perfect Predator” to show the story of how a wife took on this experimental therapy, that was introduced a long time ago but went away due to the introduction of antibiotics, and saved the husband’s life.
How are viruses classified?
Size, Shape, Envelope, and Genomes
How do we use the SHAPE of the virus for classification?
ALL viruses contain a protein coat/shell called a capsid.
AKA Symmetry of protein shell (Capsid)
How are virions formed?
Virions (infectious virus particles) are formed by de novo self-assembly from newly synthesized components
What is the vehicle for transmission of the viral genome to the next host cell or organism, where it disassembly initiates the next infectious cycle?
A progeny (offspring) virion assembled during the infectious cycle
How do we use the SIZE of the virus for classification?
Use the dimensions of the virion and capsid
How do we use the ENVELOPE of the virus for classification?
A virus can LACK a lipid-bilayer causing them to be Heat-resistant (HIV, polio, etc.) making them harder to control and eliminate
A virus can be ENCLOSED within a lipid-bilayer causing them to be Heat-sensitive (Sars-CoV-2) making them easy to eliminate through the use of products such as soap and hand sanitizer (where the soap will go into lipid bilayer and tear it apart enabling the virus to mix with water)
TL:DR
Presence or absence of lipid membrane (evelope)
How do we use the GENOME of the virus for classification?
The nature of nucleic acid in the virion
Through the finding of Hershey-Chase experiment, it is inferred that viral nucleic acid alone can be infectious
What are Metagenomics?
Direct sequencing of genomes from environmental samples.
What does Metagenomics detect?
Detects novel microbial species that are otherwise uncultivatable
What is the host for Giant Viruses?
Amoeba
What is the genome for Giant Viruses?
Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA virus (NCLDV)
