Chapter 13 – Viruses, Viroids and May either be linear and composed of
Prions several molecules of nucleic acid or
circular and singular
Acellular (noncellular) agents that lack cell Viral genomes are usually smaller than
membranes and composed only of few the genomes of cells
organic molecules
Also lack most of the characteristics of life: › Herpesvirus and smallpox virus are
o Cannot carry out any metabolic dsDNA
pathway › The genome of the influenza virus is
o Can neither grow nor respond to the composed of eight linear segments of
environment ssRNA
o Cannot reproduce independently but › The genome of poliovirus is one molecule
instead must utilize the chemical and of ssRNA
structural components of the cell they
infect Hosts of Viruses
o Must recruit the cell’s metabolic Most viruses infect only particular hosts’
pathways in order to increase their cells
numbers Specificity is due to the precise affinity of
viral attachment molecules – proteins or
Characteristics of Viruses glycoproteins on the viral surface – for
› Miniscule, acellular, infectious agent having complementary proteins or glycoproteins
one or several pieces of nucleic acid – either on the surface of the host cell
DNA or RNA May infect particular cell in the host
› No cytoplasmic membrane, lack cytosol and Some viruses are generalists
functional organelles o Infect many kinds of cells or many
› A biological virus is similar to a computer different hosts
virus – it is basically a code that is inactive All types of organisms are susceptible to
and harmful until it infects its host some sort of viral attack:
› Have extracellular and intracellular state: o Bacteriophage or simply phage is
o Extracellular state
a virus that infects bacteria
Outside the cell, a virus is called a o Virus of plants are less known than
virion consists of a protein coat
bacterial and animal viruses, may
called capsid surrounding a nucleic
infect many food crops and are
acid core
introduced into plants either
Together the viral nucleic acid and
through cell abrasions of the cell
its capsid is called nucleocapsid
wall or by plant parasites
which can crystallize like crystalline
o Fungal viruses have been little
Some have an outermost layer of
studied; exists only within cells
phospholipid membrane called
and seemingly have no
envelope that provides the virus
extracellular state but can easily
both protection and recognition
propagate by the fusion of an
sites that bind to complementary
infected fungal cell with an
chemicals on the surface of their
uninfected cell
specific host cells
o Intracellular state
› HIV specifically attacks helper T
Once the virus is inside, the
lymphocytes and have no effect on human
intracellular state is initiated and
muscle or bone cells
the capsid and envelope is removed
› West Nile virus is a generalist virus which
A virus without its capsid exists
can infect humans, most species of birds,
solely as nucleic acid but is still
several mammalian species, and some
referred to as a virus
reptiles
Genetic Material of Viruses
Sizes of Viruses
Viral genome is either DNA or RNA
Most viruses are small
Viral genomes can be:
Larger viruses, megavirus, is about 500
a. Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA)
nm
b. Singe-stranded RNA (ssRNA)
The inventio of the electron microscopy
c. Single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)
allowed scientist to see TMV and other
d. Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA)
viruses effectively upon subsequent outward from the envelope’s
infection by that same specific strain surface
Capsid Morphology o the envelope’s proteins and
Protein coats that provide both protection glycoproteins often play a role in
for viral nucleic acid and a means by the virion’s recognition of host
which many viruses attach to their hosts’ cells
cells o does not perform other
Capsomeres physiological roles of a
o Proteinaceous subunits of the cytoplasmic membrane such as
capsid endocytosis or active transport
o Some are composed of only a o the envelope provide protection
single type of protein, whereas from the immune system
others are composed of several o susceptible to detergents, alcohol,
different kinds of proteins and drying out
o more fragile than naked ones
Viral Shapes › nonenveloped virion or naked virion
› Three basic types: o more stable outside a host than are
1. Helical enveloped viruses
composed of capsomeres that o more susceptible to recognition
bond together in a circling and attack by the immune system
fashion to form a tube around
the nucleic acid Classification of Viruses
2. Polyhedral › Viruses are classified by the type of
roughly spherical, with a shape nucleic acid, presence of envelope, shape
similar to geodesic dome and size
most common type is an › Virologists have established families for
icosahedron (20 sides) all viral genera, but only seven viral
3. Complex orders are described
have capsids of different › No kingdoms, divisions, and classes have
shapes that do not readily fit
been defined
into either of the other two › Family names are typically derived either
categories
from special characteristics of viruses
an example is smallpox virus,
within the family or from the name of an
which has several capsids
another is bacteriophages
including icosahedral heads,
which contain the genome,
attached to helical tails with
tail fibers (resembles NASA’s
lunar radar)
Viral Envelope
› All viruses lack cell membranes, but some,
particularly animal viruses, have an
envelope similar in composition to a cell
membrane surrounding their capsids
› Matrix proteins are viral proteins that fill
the region between capsid and envelope
› enveloped virion
o virion with a membrane
o acquires its envelope from its host important member of the family
cell during viral replication or
release
o the envelope is a portion of the
membrane system of a host cell
o composed of phospholipid bilayer
and proteins
o some of the proteins are virally
encoded glycoproteins, which
appear as spikes protruding
Viral Replication
› Virus depend on their hosts’ enzymes and
organelles to produce new virions
› The replication cycle of a virus usually
results in the death and lysis of the host
cell
Lytic Replication of Bacteriophages
1. Attachment
o Contact with bacteria occurs by
purely random collision, brought
about as molecular bombardment
and currents move virions through
the environment
o Tail fibers have attachment proteins
that are responsible for the
attachment
o Attachment proteins precisely fit to
complementary receptor proteins on
the surface of host’s cell walls,
flagella, or pili
2. Entry
o Release of lysozyme, a protein
enzyme carried within the capsid
that weakens the peptidoglycan of
the cell wall
o The phage’s tail sheath then
contracts, forcing an internal hollow
tube within the tail through the cell
wall and membrane
o The page injects its genome through
the tube and into the bacterium
o After entry, viral enzymes degrade
the bacterial DNA
3. Synthesis
o The bacterium stops synthesizing its
own molecules and begins
synthesizing only viral parts under
control of the viral genome
4. Assembly
o Capsomeres accumulate within the
cell and simultaneously attach to
one another to form new capsid
heads
o Tails assemble and attach to heads,
and tail fibers attach to tails, forming
mature virions
o Capsid assembly is a spontaneous
process, requiring little or no
enzymatic activity
o Sometimes capsid assembles around
leftover pieces of host DNA instead
of viral DNA, instead of inserting
phage DNA, it transfers DNA from
the first host into a new host in a
process called transduction
5. Release
Lysogenic Replication of Bacteriophages
Replication of Animal Viruses
