• They are obligate, intracellular parasite.

• They are not cells and are not made up of cells.

• They cannot manufacture their own ATP, amino acids,

or nucleotides, and they cannot produce proteins on
their own.

Virion: virus particle

Discovered by:

• Dmitri Ivanowsky in 1892.

• He recognized an infectious agent, which caused tobacco

mosaic disease and were smaller than bacteria.

• M.W. Beijerinek in 1898 called the filter ‘Contagium

vivum fluidum’ and named it the ‘virus’.
Why Do Biologists Study Viruses?

Viruses Shape the Evolution of Organisms

Viruses can carry out lateral gene transfer between organisms of the same species
or between different species. Researchers estimate that 5–8 percent of the human
genome consists of remnants of viral genomes from past infections.

Viruses Cause Disease

Epidemic (“upon people”): a disease that rapidly infects a large number of

individuals over a widening area.

An epidemic that is worldwide in scope is called a Pandemic. The influenza

outbreak of 1918–1919, called Spanish flu: the most devastating pandemic, killed
up to 50 million people.
Current Viral Pandemics in Humans: AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS): caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

How Does HIV Cause AIDS?

• HIV kills people indirectly-by making them susceptible to diseases that normally do not arise in those with a
functioning immune system.
• Currently, the UN estimates that about 35 million people are infected with HIV worldwide. An additional 2.3
million are infected each year.
Current Viral Pandemics in Humans: ???

ACE- Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2

[Link]
Most viruses produce virions that range from about 20 to 300 nm in diameter.

If virus infected cells can be grown in culture or harvested from

a host individual, researchers can usually isolate the virus by
passing solutions of infected cultures or patient samples (e.g.,
blood, saliva, or feces) through a filter.

1. the structure (morphology) of the virion,

2. the nature of the genetic material that is transmitted,
3. the mechanism by which the virus replicates.
Analyzing Morphological Traits

Two general categories: (1) those that are enclosed by just a shell of protein called a capsid and
(2) those enclosed by both a capsid and one or more membranous envelopes.

Only the very largest viruses, such as the

smallpox virus, are visible with a light
microscope.

Nonenveloped viruses, often called “naked”

viruses, use only the capsid to protect their
genetic material.
Analyzing the Genetic Material

RNA and DNA genomes of viruses can be either single stranded or double stranded.

• In a positive-sense single stranded RNA ([+] ssRNA) virus, the genome contains the same sequences as the
mRNA required to produce viral proteins.

• In a negative-sense single stranded RNA ([–] ssRNA) virus, the base sequences in the genome are complementary
to those in viral mRNAs.

• In an ambisense single stranded RNA virus, the genome has at least one segment that contains a positive sense
region and a negative sense region.
Analyzing the Phases of Replicative Growth

Bacteriophages attach to proteins or carbohydrates on the cell wall, fimbriae, or flagella of their host cells. To gain
access to the plasma membrane, they often use an enzyme called lysozyme to degrade a small region of the cell wall.
How Do Viruses Enter a Cell?

QUESTION:

Does CD4 protein function as the receptor that HIV uses to enter host
cells?

In most individuals, membrane proteins called CXCR4 and CCR5

function as coreceptors. Once the virion binds to both CD4 and a
coreceptor, the lipid bilayers of the virion’s envelope and the plasma
membrane of the T cell fuse.
Enveloped Viruses Bind to Host Membranes and Uncoat via Fusion.
Enveloped Viruses Bind to Host Membranes and Uncoat via Fusion.
How Do Viruses Produce Proteins?

• Depends on virus, Transcription of the viral genome may be accomplished by either host or viral RNA
polymerases.
• In all viruses, however, translation of viral transcripts depends entirely on the host.
• Viral Proteases cleave viral polyproteins (long polypeptide sequences) at specific locations- make functional
protein. In HIV, a polyprotein must be cleaved to form the different proteins that assemble into new viral capsids.

How Do Viruses Copy Their Genomes?

Viruses with RNA genome, the invading virus brings along its
own enzymes to make copies of the genome.
Viral enzymes: RNA replicases, function as RNA-dependent
RNA polymerases. They synthesize RNA from a viral RNA
template, using ribonucleotides provided by the host cell.
Retrovirus: Few viruses reverse transcribe their genome are called retroviruses (“backward viruses”). Because, the
initial flow of genetic information in this type of virus is RNA to DNA—the opposite of the central dogma. E.g. HIV.
How Are New Virions Assembled?

• During assembly, viral genomes are packaged into capsids.

• Some viruses also include copies of noncapsid proteins, such as polymerases, inside the capsid.

• Details of the assembly process are not well understood.

• Some viruses assemble the capsid first and then use motor proteins to pull the viral genome inside, while others
assemble the capsid around the genomic material.
How Do Progeny Virions Exit an Infected Cell?

• In enveloped viruses such as HIV, virions are formed as they bud from membranes of the host cell.
How Do Progeny Virions Exit an Infected Cell?

• Naked viruses normally exit the host cell by bursting the cell, as in T4 bacteriophage.

• Bursting kills the host cell; budding does not require cell death to occur.
How Are Virions Transmitted to New Hosts?

• If the host cell is part of a multicellular organism, the new generation of virions may be transported through the
body- often via the bloodstream or lymphatic system.

• In vertebrates, antibodies produced by the immune system may bind to the virions and mark them for destruction.
But if a virion contacts an appropriate host cell before it encounters antibodies, then a new replicative cycle starts.
Analyzing How Viruses Coexist with Host Cells

• Certain types of viruses can arrest the replicative cycle and enter a dormant state of coexistence with the host cell.
In bacteriophages, this alternate mode of infection is called lysogeny
• Viruses that infect animal cells, the dormant state is called latency. This is a strategy to avoid a strong and
effective immune response.
Where Did Viruses Come From? No one knows how viruses originated.

Origin in Plasmids and Transposable Elements?

Like viruses, plasmids and transposable elements (TE) are acellular, mobile genetic elements that replicate with the
aid of a host cell. Escaped gene sets: TE are descended from clusters of genes that physically escaped from
prokaryotic or eukaryotic chromosomes long ago.

Origin in Symbiotic Bacteria?

Symbiotic bacteria degenerated into viruses by gradually losing the genes required to synthesize ribosomes, ATP,
nucleotides, amino acids etc. Researchers have pointed to the giant virions of pandoraviruses and mimiviruses, (infect
protists). These are among the largest viruses, with sizes that approach or exceed those of many bacterial cells.

Origin at the Origin of Life?

RNA genomes of some viruses are descended from genes found in early inhabitants of the RNA world. It advocates
point to the ubiquity of viruses—which suggests that they have been evolving along with organisms since life began.
What Themes Occur in the Diversification of Viruses?

• HIV is an example of a virus responsible for an emerging disease.

• Another example occurred in 1976, when the Ebola virus (EBOV) infected 318 individuals in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and killed 280 of them.
• A more recent EBOV outbreak led to the 2014 epidemic in West Africa that claimed the lives of over 11,000
people. Both HIV and EBOV are considered emerging viruses because they “jumped” from their natural host
species to a new host—humans.
Some Emerging Viruses Arise from Genome Reassortment

Different strains of influenza can infect humans as well as other animals, such as birds and pigs. While the avian
strains do not efficiently infect humans, they can infect pigs—and so can the human strains. This means that pigs can
serve as mixing vessels to produce new recombinant strains.
Responding to a Virus Outbreak

The physicians report the cases to public health officials, who take on two urgent tasks: (1) identifying the agent that
is causing the new illness and (2) identifying the origin of the outbreak.

In late 2002, an outbreak of an unknown respiratory syndrome rocked southern China and rapidly spread to several
countries across the globe, causing over 8000 probable infections and killing 774 people. In 2003, the World Health
Organization took action and led an international effort to identify the cause of the illness, which became known as
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Key Lineages of Viruses

The Seven Strategies for Expression of Viral Genetic Material Converge on the Translation of mRNA. Notice that although
Classes I and IV have the same types of genomes as Classes VII and VI, respectively, they differ in the ways their genomes are
replicated.
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