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Viruses. What is a Virus?. All common colds and flu are a result of having an invasion of viruses in your body Virus : nonliving particles (one particle is a “virion”) composed of nucleic acids enclosed in a protein coat which are smaller than any bacterium.
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What is a Virus? • All common colds and flu are a result of having an invasion of viruses in your body • Virus: nonliving particles (one particle is a “virion”) composed of nucleic acids enclosed in a protein coat which are smaller than any bacterium
Considered nonliving because they don’t exhibit all criteria for life • No respiration • No growth or development • Main job is replication – making copies of themselves, and since they aren’t living, they need help from living cells called hosts • Host cell: a cell in which a virus replicates
Viruses are named after the disease they cause or the organ system they infect since they are nonliving, and scientists don’t name nonliving things the same way as living things
Polio virus HIV Influenza virus Rabies virus • Common viruses: • Polio virus • Rabies virus • HIV virus • Influenza virus DISEASES
hepatitis adenovirus bacteriophage • Adenovirus (adenoid tissue between throat and nasal cavity = common cold) • Hepatitis (hepatic organ = liver) • Bacteriophage (bacteria)
All viruses have similar structure, although they may look different • nucleic acid • capsid • envelope
Nucleic acid inner core • Inside of a virus contains nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA • This contains the instructions for making more viruses • Viruses may contain as little as 4 genes, or as many as 100s of genes
Capsid • Outer protein coat is called a capsid, and is what is detected by the host to determine if it is a foreign object • Arrangement of the protein in capsid will determine: • the shape of the virus • which cell can be infected • how the virus infects the cell
Envelope • If the virus is a large one like the human flu virus, it may also have an outer envelope that surrounds the capsid
Five major shapes of viruses • Polyhedral (icosahedral) • Non-enveloped with geometric shape with flat sides • Human papilloma virus (HPV)
Helical • Non-enveloped, with the proteins arranged like a spiral staircase with the nucleic acids in the middle • Ebola virus
Enveloped polyhedral • Polyhedral shaped with a spherical envelope making it round • Herpes virus
Enveloped helical • Helical shaped with a spherical envelope making it round • Often times have extra protein projection studs or spikes • Influenza virus • Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Complex • Polyhedral head with cylindrical tail and leg-like fibers • T4 bacteriophage
All viruses have to attach to the host cell before it can enter and begin with replication • Has to recognize particular host cell, so must recognize specific receptor sites on host cell’s plasma membrane • One of its proteins interlocks with receptor site, kind of like spaceships docking together for refueling
Each virus has specifically shaped attachment protein, so it can usually only infect a few types of cells • T4 bacteriophages have tail-like protein fibers that attach to certain E. coli bacteria • It can’t infect an animal or plant cell, so humans don’t have to worry about them • Polio viruses can only infect human intestinal or nerve cells
Due to the fact that certain viruses are species specific, it makes it possible to control some • By 1980, human small pox virus was eradicated, simply because we could control it with vaccines and isolation
Certain influenza viruses infect both humans and other animals, so we can’t control it • West Nile virus infects mainly birds, horses, and humans, so we can’t control it either
Viral Replication Cycles • Once attached to host cell, virus takes over cell’s metabolism and it can replicate • Two methods of entering host cells: • injection • endocytosis
Injection (non-enveloped viruses) • Virus attaches to cell and injects nucleic acid into host cell
Endocytosis (enveloped viruses) • Virus attaches to cell, and host cell’s membrane surrounds virus, becoming a vacuole that enters the cell. Once in the vacuole, the virus bursts out, and enters cell
Once inside the host cell, the virus will replicate itself through a cycle, and this replication can destroy the cell immediately, or leave it intact for awhile. As a result, there are two types of replication cycles: • Lytic cycle – host cell dies • Lysogenic cycle – host cell lives
Lytic Cycle • Viral genes alter the host cell to force it to make new viruses • Host cell uses own enzymes, proteins, nuclear bases, and energy to make more viruses, which then burst from host cell , which kills it • New viruses infect other cells, repeating process • Disadvantage: will eventually kill all host cells, and thereby killing themselves
Lysogenic Cycle • Virus inserts own nucleic acid into host cell’s nucleic acid, so when host cell undergoes own replication, new viruses are made. • viral DNA that is integrated into a host cell’s chromosome in this fashion is called a provirus
A provirus does not necessarily affect host cell’s activities, so the host cell continues on with own duties • this can continue for years, but a provirus can become lytic at any time, and start killing the host cells
long duration of lysogenic cycle explains how an organism can be infected with the same virus for life, but only see the symptoms every once in a while • Are many examples of human viruses that can alternate between the lysogenic and lytic cycles for a lifetime
Cold sore or fever blister Canker sore • herpes simplex I • virus causes cold sores and canker sores • always in your body (lysogenic cycle), but when certain viruses become lytic, they kill those certain cells which shows up as a sore
herpes simplex II • virus causes genital warts • lytic cycle shows up as warts that go away, but may come back every time the virus goes from lysogenic cycle to lytic cycle
hepatitis B • virus causes hepatitis B • Disease attacks the liver, causing liver cancer, cirrhosis (scarring), and liver failure
Varicella • virus that causes chicken pox and shingles • chicken pox is lytic cycle of virus, and once the person is well, it’s really the virus going into lysogenic cycle
person always has virus, but it now affects nerve cells, and may become lytic again but this time causing disease shingles, a painful infection of nerve cells
most complex replication cycle is that of a retrovirus • retrovirus: type of viral replication where a virus uses reverse transcriptase enzyme to make DNA from viral RNA; the retroviral DNA is then integrated into the host cells chromosome
cells can normally only make RNA from DNA (transcription), and can’t go in the reverse T A G C A U trxn C G G C A U DNA RNA
these viruses contain RNA only, and RNA can not be integrated into host cell’s DNA since it is not the same nucleic acid • have the capability of making own DNA from their RNA using enzyme reverse transcriptase that takes RNA and transcribes it backwards, into DNA A T C G U A Reverse transcription G C C G U A RNA DNA
virus can now insert viral DNA into host DNA, and begin lysogenic or lytic cycle, thereby becoming a provirus • ex: HIV
virus now infects white blood cells, those that are responsible for generating immune response • new viruses get released from white blood cells via exocytosis, and are free to infect other white blood cells • infected person may not feel sick or out of sorts for 2 – 5 years, but they are still able to infect another person
HIV becomes AIDS when HIV enters lytic cycle, and white blood cells are killed, preventing body from fighting smallest disease, like a cold • Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) = lysogenic cycle • Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) = lytic cycle
Cancer and Viruses • Some viruses have been linked to certain cancers in animals including humans • Viruses disrupt the normal cell cycles (mitosis or meiosis), causing abnormal growth and creating tumors