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The host range of a virus is the spectrum of host cells that virus can infect.
Most viruses are able to infect specific types of cells of only one species.
For a virus to infect the host cell, the outer surface of the virus must chemically interact with specific
receptor sites on the surface of the cell.
BACTERIOHAGES Phages
VIRAL STRUCTURE
VIRION a complete, fully developed, infectious viral particle composed of nucleic acid and
surrounded by a protein coat.
PARTS OF A VIRUS:
a. DNA virus
b. RNA virus
> Either a double-stranded or single-stranded DNA or RNA virus.
> ICOSAHEDRON a
regular polyhedron with 20 triangular faces and 12 corners.
c. COMPLEX VIRUS
have a complicated
structure
E.g. Bacteriophages
4. Number of capsomeres
8. Target cell
TAXONOMY OF VIRUSES:
ICTV (International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has been grouping viruses into families based
on:
c. Morphology
A viral species is a group of viruses sharing the same genetic information and ecological niche (host
range).
Viruses that uses bacterial cells as a host are rather easily grown on
bacterial cultures.
1. Animal inoculation
May be used as a diagnostic procedure for identifying and isolating a virus from a clinical specimen.
2. In Embryonated eggs
a. Cell damage
b. Formation of typical pocks or lesions on the egg membranes.
3. In Cell Cultures
CYTOPATHIC EFFECT
VIRAL IDENTIFICATION
E.g. Western blot the virus is detected and identified by its reaction with antibodies.
MULTIPLICATION OF BACTERIOPHAGES:
LYTIC CYCLE:
Penetration Phage lysozyme opens cell wall, tail sheath contracts to force tail
core and DNA into cell
> Oncoviruses
> Can be activated by a variety of agents mutagenic chemicals, high-energy radiation and viruses.
> Hepadnaviridae
> Retroviridae
A virus can remain in equilibrium with the host and not actually produce disease for a long period of
time.
An infected person is always harboring the virus in the nerve cells, the signs and symptoms may come
and go depending on the defense system of the human body.
INCLUSION BODIES
Remnants or collection of viruses often seen in infected cells and used as diagnostic tool to identify
certain viral diseases.
VIROIDS
Consist of short, naked fragments of single-stranded RNA that can interfere with the metabolism and
growth of plants, sometimes killing the plants in the process.
Citrus exocortis
PRIONS
Are small infectious proteins that apparently cause fatal neurologic diseases in animals.
E.g.
@ SCRAPIE infected animals scrape themselves against fence posts and other objects in an effort to
relieve the intense pruritus associated with the disease.
E.g.
@ KURU a disease that was once common among natives of Papua, New Guinea, where women and
children ate human brains as part of traditional burial custom.
> If infected with prions, then the person who ate those brain developed kuru.