Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lesson Overview
20.1 Viruses
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Discovery of Viruses
In 1892, Dmitri Ivanovski demonstrated that the cause of tobacco
mosaic disease was found in the liquid extracted from infected plants.

In 1897, Martinus Beijerinck suggested that tiny particles in the juice

caused the disease, and he named these particles viruses, after the
Latin word for “poison.”

In 1935, Wendell Stanley isolated crystals of tobacco mosaic virus.

Since living organisms do not crystallize, Stanley inferred that viruses
were not truly alive.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Discovery of Viruses
A virus is a nonliving particle made of proteins, nucleic acids, and
sometimes lipids.

Viruses can reproduce only by infecting living cells.

Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Structure and Composition

Viruses differ widely in terms of size and structure.

Most viruses are so small they can be seen only with the aid of a
powerful electron microscope.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Structure and Composition

The protein coat surrounding a virus is called a capsid.

Some viruses, such as the influenza virus, have an additional

membrane that surrounds the capsid.

The simplest viruses contain only a few genes, whereas the most
complex may have more than a hundred genes.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Structure and Composition

Most viruses have proteins on their surface membrane or capsid that
bind to receptor proteins on the host cell.

The proteins “trick” the cell to take the virus, or in some cases just its
genetic material, into the cell.

Once inside, the viral genes are eventually expressed and may destroy
the cell.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Structure and Composition

Most viruses infect only a very specific kind of cell.

Plant viruses infect plant cells; most animal viruses infect only certain
related species of animals; viruses that infect bacteria are called
bacteriophages.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Viral Infections
What happens after a virus infects a cell?
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Viral Infections
What happens after a virus infects a cell?

Inside living cells, viruses use their genetic information to make multiple
copies of themselves. Some viruses replicate immediately, while others
initially persist in an inactive state within the host.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
In a lytic infection, a virus enters a bacterial cell, makes copies of
itself, and causes the cell to burst, or lyse.

Bacteriophage T4 is an example of a bacteriophage that causes such

an infection.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
Bacteriophage T4 has a DNA
core inside a protein capsid that
binds to the surface of a host
cell.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
The virus injects its DNA into the cell.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
The cell then begins to make messenger RNA (mRNA) from the viral
genes.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
The viral mRNA is translated into viral proteins that chop up the cell’s
DNA.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
Controlled by viral genes, the host cell’s metabolic system makes
copies of viral nucleic acid.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
The host cell’s metabolic system also makes copies of capsid proteins.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
The viral nucleic acid and capsid proteins are then assembled into new
virus particles.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
The host cell lyses, releasing hundreds of virus particles that go on to
infect other cells.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
A lytic virus is similar to an outlaw in the
Wild West of the American frontier in the
demands the virus makes on its host.

First, the outlaw eliminates the town’s

existing authority.

In a lytic infection, the host cell’s DNA is

chopped up.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
Next, the outlaw demands to be outfitted
with new equipment from the local
townspeople.

In a lytic infection, the viruses use the

host cell to make viral DNA and viral
proteins.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lytic Infections
Finally, the outlaw forms a gang that
leaves the town to attack new
communities.

In a lytic infection, the host cell bursts,

releasing hundreds of virus particles.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
Some bacterial viruses cause a lysogenic infection.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
In a lysogenic infection a host cell is not immediately taken over.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
The viral nucleic acid is inserted into the host cell’s DNA.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
The viral DNA is then copied along with the host DNA without damaging
the host.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
Viral DNA multiplies as the host cells multiply.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
In this way, each generation of daughter cells derived from the original
host cell is infected.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
Bacteriophage DNA that becomes embedded in the bacterial host’s
DNA is called a prophage.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
The prophage may remain part of the DNA of the host cell for many
generations.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
Influences from the environment—radiation, heat, etc—trigger the
prophage to become active.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Lysogenic Infection
It then removes itself from the host cell DNA, directs the synthesis of
new virus particles, and now becomes an active lytic infection.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

A Closer Look at Two RNA Viruses

About 70 percent of viruses contain RNA rather than DNA.

In humans, RNA viruses cause a wide range of infections, from

relatively mild colds to severe cases of HIV.

Certain kinds of cancer also begin with an infection by viral RNA.

Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

The Common Cold

Cold viruses attack with a very simple, fast-acting infection.

A capsid settles on a cell, typically in the host’s nose, and is brought

inside, where a viral protein makes many new copies of the viral RNA.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

The Common Cold

The host cell’s ribosomes mistake the viral RNA for the host’s own
mRNA and translate it into capsids and other viral proteins.

The new capsids assemble around the viral RNA copies, and within 8
hours, the host cell releases hundreds of new virus particles to infect
other cells.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

HIV
The deadly disease called acquired immune deficiency syndrome
(AIDS) is caused by an RNA virus called human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV).

HIV belongs to a group of RNA viruses that are called retroviruses.

The genetic information of a retrovirus is copied from RNA to DNA

instead of from DNA to RNA.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

HIV
When a retrovirus infects a cell, it makes a DNA copy of its RNA.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

HIV
The copy inserts itself into the DNA of the host cell.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

HIV
Retroviral infections are similar to lysogenic infections of bacteria. Much
like a prophage in a bacterial host, the viral DNA may remain inactive
for many cell cycles before making new virus particles and damaging
the cells of the host’s immune system.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Viruses and Cells

All viruses are parasites. Parasites depend entirely upon other living
organisms for their existence, harming these organisms in the process.

Viruses must infect living cells in order to grow and reproduce, taking
advantage of the nutrients and cellular machinery of their hosts.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Viruses and Cells

Viruses have many of the characteristics of living things. After infecting
living cells, viruses can reproduce, regulate gene expression, and even
evolve.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Viruses and Cells

Some of the main differences between cells and viruses are
summarized in this chart.
Lesson Overview Studying the Human Genome

Viruses and Cells

Although viruses are smaller and simpler than the smallest cells, it is
unlikely that they were the first living organisms.

Because viruses are dependent upon living organisms, it seems more

likely that viruses developed after living cells.

The first viruses may have evolved from the genetic material of living
cells. Viruses have continued to evolve, along with the cells they infect,
for billions of years.