virus
A virus is a minuscule, acellular, infectious agent usually
having one or several pieces of nucleic acid—either DNA or
RNA
what do viruses lack
Viruses have an extracellular and an intracellular state.
- inside: capsid removed, just nucleic acid
capsid
Basically, a virion consists of a protein
coat, called a capsid, surrounding a nucleic acid core.
- The capsid of a virus is
composed of proteinaceous subunits called capsomeres (or capsomers).
Some capsomeres are composed of only a single type of
protein, whereas others are composed of several different kinds
of proteins.
envelope
Some virions have
a phospholipid membrane called an envelope surrounding
the nucleocapsid. The outermost layer of a virion (capsid or
envelope) provides the virus both protection and recognition
sites that bind to complementary chemicals on the surfaces
of their specific host cells.
generalists
By contrast, some viruses are generalists;
they infect many kinds of cells in many different hosts.
An example of a generalist virus is West Nile virus
viruses were first identified
from tobacco plants
fungal viruses
nucleocapsid
Together the nucleic acid and its capsid are
also called a nucleocapsid, which in many cases can crystallize
like crystalline chemicals
viral shapes
matrix proteins
viral proteins called matrix proteins fill the region between
capsid and envelope.
much-studied virus
dsDNA phage of e coli called type 4 (T4). T4 virions are complex, having
the polyhedral heads and helical tails seen in many bacteriophages.
lytic replication cycle
- AESAR: attachment, entry, synthesis, assembly, release
attachment
entry
viral enzymes
are either carried within the capsid or
coded by viral genes and made by the bacterium
synthesis
assmelby
or no enzymatic activity
transduction
Sometimes a capsid assembles around leftover pieces of
host DNA instead of viral DNA. A virion formed in this manner
is still able to attach to a new host by means of its tail fibers,
but instead of inserting phage DNA, it transfers DNA from the
first host into a new host. This process is known as transduction
release
Newly assembled virions are released from the cell as lysozyme
completes its work on the cell wall and the bacterium disintegrates.
burst time
For any phage undergoing
lytic replication, the period of time required to complete
the entire process, from attachment to release, is called the
burst time
burst size
the number of new virions released from each
lysed bacterial cell is called the burst size
lysogeny
much-studied temperate phage
lambda phage
- another e coli parasite