BIOLOGY

13th Edition
Raven

Unit 14 – part 1

Chapter 26: Viruses

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction
or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Chapter 26: Viruses-Prions-Viroids

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-2

 Nature of Viruses
All viruses have same basic structure
• Nucleic acid core surrounded by protein.
• No cytoplasm – not a cell.
Nucleic acid can be DNA or RNA
• Circular or linear.
• Single- or double-stranded.
• RNA viruses may have segmented genomes or not.
Classified by genome in part
• RNA viruses, DNA viruses, or retroviruses.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-3

 Virus structure

Nearly all viruses form a protein sheath, or capsid, around

their nucleic acid core
• Composed of repeats of 1 to a few proteins.
Some viruses store specialized enzymes with nucleic acid
core eg: Reverse transcriptase not found in host.

Many animal viruses have an envelope

• Derived from host cell membrane with viral proteins.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-4

 Viral shape: Helical capsid within envelope

Example: Tobacco Mosaic Virus Naked adenovirus T4 phage Influenza virus

(Binal symmetry; has envelope
DNA in head)

* Influenza is a a viral infection that attacks your respiratory system — your nose, throat and
lungs. Influenza is commonly called the flu, but
© 2020 it's not Education.
McGraw-Hill the same as stomach "flu" viruses 26-5
 Viral hosts
Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites in every kind of
organism investigated
Host range – types of organisms infected
• Each type of virus has a limited host range.
• Tissue tropism – inside a host the virus may only infect
certain tissues.
Viruses can remain dormant or latent for years
• Chicken pox (disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus
infection) in children can reemerge as shingles (a disease) in
adults.
More kinds of viruses exist than kinds of organisms

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-6

 Viral Replication #1

Infecting virus can be thought of as a set of instructions

Viral genome tricks host cell into making viruses
Cell with a virus is often damaged by infection
Viruses can only reproduce inside cells
• Outside, they are metabolically inert virions.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-7

 Viral Replication #2

Viruses lack their own ribosomes and enzymes for

protein and nucleic acid synthesis
Virus hijacks the cell’s transcription and translation
machineries to express
• Early genes.
• Middle genes.
• Late genes.
End result is assembly and release of viruses

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-8

 Viral Shapes

Most viral capsids come in two simple shapes

• Helical – TMV (look rod-like or thread-like).
• Icosahedral – generally spherical.
Viral morphology is highly diverse
• Naked (no envelope) viruses (poliovirus).
• Some viruses are complex.
• Poxviruses – multilayered capsid.
• T-even bacteriophages – binal (twofold) symmetry.
• Enveloped viruses (influenza).
© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-9
 Icosahedral virion

Poliovirus: a naked virus with an

icosahedral capsid. The capsid is
formed from multiple copies of
four different proteins.

Access the text alternative for slide images

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-10
Complex virus with binal symmetry

T4 bacteriophage

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-11

 Viral Genomes #1
Vary greatly in both type of nucleic acid and number of strands

1- Most RNA viruses are single-stranded

• Include influenza, measles, common cold.
• Replicated in the host cell’s cytoplasm.
• Replication is error−prone = high rates of mutation = difficult
targets for immune system and vaccines/drugs.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-12

 Viral Genomes #2
2- Retroviruses
• Have single-stranded RNA genome that is
transcribed to double-stranded DNA.
• Employ reverse transcriptase to reverse transcribe
viral RNA into DNA.
• Example: HIV.
3- Most DNA viruses are double-stranded
• Replicated in nucleus of eukaryotic host cell.
• Examples: Smallpox and Herpes simplex.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-13

 Bacteriophage

Viruses that infect bacteria

Diverse and united only by bacterial hosts
E. coli-infecting viruses are the best studied
• Include the “T” series (T1, T2, etc.).
Viruses have also been found in archaea
• Different from bacterial viruses.
• Characterization in early stages.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-14

 Reproductive cycles of
bacteriophage: lytic cycle #1
Attachment (or adsorption)
• Target part of bacterial outer surface.
Penetration or injection
• T4 pierces cell wall to inject viral genome.
Synthesis
• Phage takes over the cell’s replication and protein
synthesis enzymes to synthesize viral components.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-15

 Reproductive cycles of
bacteriophage: lytic cycle #2
Assembly

• Assembly of components.

Release

• Mature virus particles are released through enzyme that lyses

host or budding through host cell wall.

The time between adsorption (attachment) and the formation of

new viral particles is called an eclipse period because if a cell is
lysed at this point, few if any active virions can be released.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-16

Reproductive cycles of bacteriophage:
lysogenic cycle
Occurs when a temperate or lysogenic phage infects a
host cell, and rather than entering a lytic cycle, its
genome is integrated into the genome of the host cell.
Latent phase; Virus does not immediately kill infected cell
Integration of nucleic acid into host genome allows a virus
to be replicated along with the host cell’s DNA as the host
divides
Integrated genome called prophage; cell containing a
prophage called lysogen

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-17

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-18
Viral infections: Persistent vs. Acute

Categorized based
• on how rapidly and frequently virus is produced.
• on the appearance of associated symptoms.
Persistent infections - latent or chronic
Acute infections - rapid replication of virus and can lead
to sudden symptom onset
• Can cause outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-19

Progression of acute and persistent infections

Disease

(Prions are
misfolded proteins
with the ability to
transmit their
misfolded shape
onto normal
variants of the
same protein.)

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-20

 Influenza
One of the most lethal viruses in human history

• Influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919 thought to have infected 1/3

of the world’s population.

Flu viruses are enveloped animal viruses

3 “types” based on capsid protein

• Type A - Serious epidemics in humans and other animals.

• Types B and C – Mild human infections.

Subtypes differ in protein spikes

• Hemagglutinin (HA) – Aids in viral entry.

• Neuraminidase (NA) – Aids in viral exit.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-21

 1- Antigenic drift

HA and NA molecules accumulate random mutations

Antigenic drift - small changes in the HA and NA proteins
such that previous vaccine-induced immunity is no longer
protective
• Thus we have yearly flu shots, and not a single vaccine.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-22

 2- Antigenic shift has caused pandemics

Flu viruses can undergo genetic recombination when 2

strains infect the same cell
Viral genomes are reassorted during infection
Antigenic shift produces strains of virus with novel
combinations of HA and NA

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-23

 Pandemics

Spanish flu of 1918, A(H1N1)

• Killed 50-100 million worldwide.
Asian flu of 1957, A(H2N2)
• Killed over 100,000 Americans.
Hong Kong flu of 1968, A(H3N2)
• Infected 50 million in U.S., killing 70,000.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-24

Genetic drift
and genetic shift
a. Genetic drift leads to small changes
in HA or NA structure such that
antibodies from an adaptive immune
response to a prior infection cannot
recognize a new strain of influenza virus.

b. Genetic shift occurs only in influenza

A viruses. Co-infection of a host by two
influenza A strains can lead to genomic
re-assortment and the production of new
strains with new host range.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-25

 Human Immunodeficiency Virus

HIV causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

HIV infection is chronic
HIV infects and ultimately destroys certain types of immune
cells, namely CD4-expressing cells:
• T helper (or Th) cell, often referred to as simply CD4+ cells
• Macrophages.

(CD: "cluster of differentiation", glycoproteins found on the

surface of immune cells)

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-26

 HIV infection compromises host
immune system

Without T helper cells the body cannot mount an effective

immune response
Host may ultimately die from a variety of opportunistic
infections which do not normally cause disease but can
lead to death in HIV patients

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-27

 HIV Infection Cycle #1

Attachment
• Virus only attacks CD4+ cells.
• Viral gp120 attaches to CD4 protein on macrophages
and CD4+ cells.
• Coreceptors CCR5 or CXCR4 are also required.
Entry through endocytosis

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-28

 HIV Infection Cycle #2
Replication

• Reverse transcriptase converts virus RNA to double-stranded DNA.

• Mutations common in process.
• DNA is incorporated into host genome.
• Variable period of dormancy.

Assembly

• Making many copies of virus.

Release

• New viruses exit by budding.

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-29

The HIV infection cycle

The cycle begins and ends with free HIV

particles present in the bloodstream of the
human host. These free viruses infect white
blood cells that have CD4 receptors, cells
called CD4+ cells.
© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-30
HIV treatment

© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. 26-31

 Prions
“Proteinaceous infectious particles”
Prions are infectious proteins that appear to cause degenerative
brain diseases in animals.
Prions are misfolded proteins with the ability to transmit their
misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein.
Cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) which
are characterized by the presence of numerous small cavities in
the brains of affected individuals. These cavities are caused by the
loss of neurons, and can take decades to form following the initial
infection by the causative agent.
• “Mad cow” disease – BSE
• Scrapie in sheep
• Creutzfeldt–Jacob disease in humans (CJD).
Host has normal prion proteins (PrP c )
• Misfolded proteins ( PrP sc ) causes normal PrP to misfold, cause
disease = proteopathy or prion disease 32
Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Normal PrP protein is necessary for productive
infection by scrapie infectious particle

33
Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Viroids
Tiny (250 to 400 nucleotides) naked molecules of circular RNA
Smallest known pathogens
Naked circular ssRNA molecules – no protein coating –
Mature viroids travel from cell to cell in plants via
plasmodesmata
Cause diseases in economically important crops (plants)
• Recent outbreak killed over 10 million coconut palms in the
Philippines
Use host protein to replicate
In the infected plant, viroid replication intermediates may act
as the source of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) which can
interfere with plant growth and development. 34
Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 35
Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 36
Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.