BOT-304

Bacteriology &
Virology
Lecture Topic:
Introduction to
Virus
 Definition of Virus

Virology

Nature of Viruses

CONTENT Difference of Viruses from Cellular Organisms

S Discovery of Virus & Historical Benchmarks in Virology

Origin of Virus

General characteristics of Virus

References
Definition of Virus
• Unique group of biological entities
• Derived from Latin word meaning poisonous fluid
Can be defined as:
• Ultramicroscopic (20-300 nanometers in diameter), metabolically
inert, infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living
hosts
• Non-cellular particles, composed of either RNA or DNA as core, a
protein coat, and in more complex types, a surrounding envelope
• Obligate intracellular parasites; that fluctuate between the living and
non-living worlds, and possess characteristics of both
Some terms
are so
confusing?
Need further
discussion to
grab the basic
concept
• Ultramicroscopic: Too small to be seen under light microscope or with
naked eye; electron microscope is needed to visualize them.
• Infectious: Able to infect other organisms; can cause transmittable
diseases
• Metabolically inert: Metabolism describe all chemical reactions,
specifically related to energy and its transformation, involved in
maintaining living state of the organism. Virus cannot respire, eat,
grow or reproduce on its own.
• Non-cellular: Lack proper cell structure and its organelles that carry
out life functions; the main reason of virus being metabolically inert.
• Obligate intracellular parasites: Could only survive inside the cell of its
living host
 Virology
Scientific discipline concerned with the study of the
biology of viruses and viral diseases, including the
distribution, biochemistry, physiology, molecular
biology, ecology, evolution and clinical aspects of
viruses
Martinus Beijerinck is often called the Father of
Virology.
 Nature of
Viruses
Virus fluctuate
between the living
and non-living
worlds…
How can we say
that?
 Virus as non-living entity
• Lack cell organelles and exhibit different kind of organization
• Do not possess machinery necessary for generating energy and
synthesizing proteins
• Depend upon host for survival and multiplication
• Incapable of performing life functions outside of their living hosts
• Multiplication (reproduction) of virus is entirely different from other
living beings
• Can crystallize, and remain in that state for indefinite time without
losing its identity
• High specific gravity
 Virus as living entity
• Strictly obligate intracellular parasites
• Electron microscopy revealed that most viruses are morphologically
similar to Bacilli and cocci bacteria
• Can grow inside host cell and capable of self-reproduction
• Like cells, can mutate and change characteristics
• Crystallized viruses do not loose their activity, and may infect healthy
living cells when redissolved inside suitable host cell
• Respond to heat, chemicals and radiations
• Transmitted from diseased host to healthy ones
• Show irritability, character of only living organisms
 From preceding discussion, we can say
that:
• Viruses exist in 2 distinct forms: one extracellular and other
intracellular
• Outside the host cell, viruses are more than macromolecular
aggregates that are incapable of any independent metabolism
• Within the host cell, viruses are capable of performing nearly every
biological function necessary for their survival
Viruses are now generally regarded to be organisms, because they can
attach to the proper host to begin an infection and self-reproduction
Viruses are preferably referred as being functionally active or inactive,
instead of living or non-living
Difference of
Viruses from
Cellular
Organisms
 Virus Cellular organisms
Unit structure is virion Unit structure is cell
Possess only one kind of nucleic Contain both kinds of nucleic acids,
acid, either DNA or RNA DNA and RNA
Composed of biomolecules and
Lack enzymes and metabolic many enzymes, capable of
machinery catalyzing all life reactions
Virion never arise directly from pre- Cell always arise directly from pre-
existing virion existing cell
Depend upon host for Not dependent on any other being
multiplication for its reproduction
Discovery of
Virus
&
Historical
Benchmarks
in Virology
 Discovery of Virus
• Louis Pasteur was unable to find a causative agent for rabies and
speculated about a pathogen too small to be detected using a
microscope.
• In 1884, French microbiologist Charles Chamberland invented a filter,
known today as Chamberland filter, that had pores smaller than
bacteria. Thus, he could pass a solution containing bacteria through the
filter and completely remove them from the solution.
• In 1876, Adolf Mayer, who directed the Agricultural Experimental
Station in Wageningen, was first to show what he called "Tobacco
Mosaic Disease" was infectious. He thought that it was caused by either
a toxin or a very small bacterium.
 Discovery of virus
• In 1892, Russian biologist Dmitri Ivanovsky used Chamberland filter to
study what is now known as tobacco mosaic virus. His experiments
showed that crushed leaf extracts from infected tobacco plants remain
infectious after filtration. Ivanovsky suggested the infection might be
caused by a toxin produced by bacteria but did not pursue the idea.
• In 1898, Dutch microbiologist Martinus Beijerinck repeated
experiments by Adolf Mayer and became convinced that filtrate
contained a new form of infectious agent. He observed that the agent
multiplied only in cells that were dividing and he called it a contagium
vivum fluidum (soluble living germ) and re-introduced the word virus.
 First virus to be
discovered was
Tobacco Mosaic
Virus (TMV)
in 1898 by Dutch
microbiologist
Martinus Beijerinck
 Historical Benchmarks
in Virology
History of virology can be divided into several eras:
1. Discovery of viruses as entities distinct from other
disease-causing pathogens
2. Association of many major human diseases with
causative viruses
3. Development of methods for virus isolation and
characterization
4. Defining of the chemical properties of viruses
5. Design and application of vaccines and therapeutics
 Dr. J. Buist of Edinburgh was assumed to be first person to see virus
1886
particles, when he reported seeing "micrococci" in vaccine lymph
Friedrich Loeffler and Paul Frosch discovered first animal virus that
1898
cause of foot-and-mouth disease
Walter Reed and his associates discovered virus of yellow fever,
1900
first known viral disease of humans
1907 P. Ashburn and C. Craig discovered dengue virus
1909 Discovery of Polio virus by K. Landsteiner and E. Popper
1911 Discovery of first tumor virus (Rosus sarcoma) by P. Rousa
1915 F.W. Twort discovered bacteria eating viruses
Felix d’ Herelle coined the term bacteriophage for viruses
1917
destroying bacteria
1918 Beginning of global pandemic of Influenza
Thomas Milton Rivers said for the first time, "Viruses appear to be
1926 obligate parasites in the sense that their reproduction is dependent
on living cells."
Invention of electron microscope by the German engineers Ernst
1931
Ruska and Max Knoll, enable scientists to see virus
Wendell Stanley examined tobacco mosaic virus and found it was
1935
mostly made of protein
N.W. Pirie and F.C. Bawden established that viruses were
1936
nucleoproteins (95% proteins and 5% nucleic acid)
First electron micrograph of viruses by B. von Borries, H. Ruska and
1938
E. Ruska
 A. Harshey and M. Chase showed that protein part of virus
1952 was non-infectious and nucleic acid was responsible for
infection
J. Salk, J. Youngner and T. Francis developed inactivated
1954 polio vaccine
1959 Viral infection produce interferon (protein that help
healthy host cells in fight against viral infection)
A. Sabin, H. Cox and H. Koprowski developed attenuated
1959 live-virus polio vaccine
1962 Classification of the viruses based on virion characteristics
1963 R.S. Hafferman and M.E. Moris discovered cyanophages
(algae eating viruses)
1977 Global eradication of smallpox virus
B. La Scola and D. Raoult discovered mimivirus, the largest
2003 virus known at the time
2005 Beginning of global pandemic of chikungunya
2008 Discovery of virophage (Sputnik) by B. La Scola and D.
Raoult
2019 Beginning of global pandemic, known as COVID-19
 Origin of
Virus
From where do
virus come to life?
 Even the very smallest things have can have an outsize impact on the
history of life
• No fossil record, in conventional sense, to trace past events as they are
too small and fragile to be preserved in rocks
• But there are fossils of viruses, of sorts, preserved in DNA of the hosts
they had infected. This molecular fossil trail can help in understanding
where viruses come from, and how they have evolved with rest of us.
• It is assumed that viruses have been around as long as life itself, partly
because they can infect all life forms: bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes
• The secret of their successful survival till date lies in their structural
simplicity, because of which scientists assumed that they evolved
alongside or even before the earliest cells.
• Paleovirology is relatively new field of paleontology,
built on genomics. To look for the traces of ancient
viruses, experts study genome of their hosts.
• Fast rate of mutation (changes in viral genome) is
main difficulty. After only a few hundred years, not
much of the original genome may be left. Fortunately,
viral DNA integrated into the host can only mutate at
the rate of host activity, considerably reducing the
rate of mutation.
• 8% of human genome include sequences that came
from viruses, indicating their existence before the
origin of mammals.
• Oldest evidence of virus is of Bracovirus, dating back
to Carboniferous period, 310 million years ago.
 Models explaining Origin of Virus
Reduction hypothesis: Viruses were originally a type of small cell that
parasitized larger cells. Over time, they lost genes, keeping the ones that
were essential for parasitism.
Escape hypothesis: Viruses could have originated from fragments of
genetic material in cells, which escaped from them. The discovery of
transposons (also called “jumping genes”) by Barbara McClintock in 1950
helps to understand biomolecular mechanisms by which this might occur.
Co-evolution hypothesis: Viruses could have their origin in complex
biomolecules (proteins and nucleic acids), at the same time as the most
primitive cells appeared and have been dependent on them ever since.
Viruses and cells would have evolved together from the beginning.
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X31g5TB-
MRo&ab_channel=PBSEons
Occurrenc
e of Virus
• In terms of their absolute numbers, viruses appear to be the most
abundant biological entities on planet Earth.
• The best current estimate is that there are a whopping 1031 virus
particles in the biosphere. This corresponds to roughly 108 viruses to
match every cell in our bodies.
• Number of viruses can also be contrasted with an estimate of 4-6 x
1030 for the number of prokaryotes on Earth. However, because of their
extremely small size, the mass tied up in these viruses is only
approximately 5% of the prokaryotic biomass.
• If a sample is taken from the soil or the ocean, electron microscopy
reveal more viruses than bacteria (≈10/1 ratio).
 General
characterist
ics
of Virus
Although as a group they are extremely heterogenous, viruses share
certain basic properties:
• Viruses are smallest and simplest of all known organisms. Generally,
they range in diameter (or length) from about 20 to 200nm. They can
only be seen with an electron microscope.
• They can pass through filters that prevent the passage of most bacteria.
• They are all obligate intracellular parasites and are incapable to carry
out any of the typical life functions until they are inside the host cell, a
property that distinguishes them from other obligate intracellular
parasites, such as rickettsia and chlamydia.
• Viruses are parasitic on living cells but are not cells themselves (acellular
or non-cellular particles). They completely lack cell structures.
• Viruses exist as cubical, helical, or
tadpole shaped structures.
• Each viral particle consists of inner
core of genetic material DNA or RNA,
that is covered by non-genetic
protein coat called a capsid.
• A very characteristic feature that is
peculiar to only virus is that its
genetic material consists of either
DNA or RNA, but never both. The
genetic material of all other forms of
life posses both RNA and DNA.
• Nucleic acid may exist as single linear
piece or a circular ring. It is infective
part of virus and contain information
necessary for construction of new
viruses.
• Virus lack unit membranes
characteristic of cells but are
delimited by protein coat, capsid. It is
made of protein subunits, called
capsomeres and protect virus from
external environments.
• Together the capsid and nucleic acid
core from nucleocapsid. It may be
either naked or enclosed by a
envelop.
• All plant viruses lack envelop, while animal viruses may or may not
have envelopes.
• The complete mature virus particle is referred to as virion.
• Average virus has a molecular weight of 2×106 Daltons.
• A striking feature of many viruses is that they can be crystallized from
suspensions. Viral crystals redissolved in water can initiate an infection
cycle.
• Viruses infect every kind of living organisms on Earth, i.e. plant, fungi,
protozoa, insects, birds, mammals and humans. Even bacteria are
attacked and killed by viruses known as bacteriophages. Virus that
attack the fungi are called mycophages.
• Viruses cannot be cultured on any synthetic media.
• Viruses are highly specific for
particular organisms. They can
ordinarily invade cells of one type,
and often of one species.
• They vary greatly in their power of
resistance; some are easily killed by
drying, heat or poisons, others
remain active for years in dry state.
• An important feature of virus is
their lack of enzymes necessary for
generation of energy. They seem to
be metabolically inert. Their living
properties are exhibited only when
they infect proper hosts.
• Viruses are capable of self-reproduction. But the process of virus
reproduction is different from that of other organisms in the sense that
viruses do not divide to form new individuals. Without exception, viruses
only multiply inside living cells.
• The process of virus multiplication is called replication and occur in five
stages: adsorption, penetration of nucleic acid, replication of nucleic acid,
maturation and release of new virions.
• When a virus injects its nucleic acid into the host cell, the viral nucleic acid
subverts the host cell machinery to bring about the formation of more viral
nucleic acid and viral proteins that eventually produce new viral particles.
• Viruses are very easily transmitted from one organism to another by
mechanical means or biological vectors.
Let’s revise:
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=O1TetEto1Is&ab_channel=Osmosis
 References
• C.J. Burrell, C.R. Howard and F.A. Murphy. 2017. History
and Impact of Virology. In: C.J. Burrell, C.R. Howard and
F.A. Murphy (Eds.). Fenner and White's Medical
Virology, 5th Edition. Academic Press, London, UK; pp. 3-
14.
• S.N.J. Korsman, G.V. Zyl, W. Preiser, L. Nutt and M.I.
Andersson. 2012. Virology: An Illustrated Colour Text.
Elsevier Health Science, UK.
• https://www.nature.com/subjects/virology
• https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/
research/the-origin-of-viruses-a-puzzle-that-will-help-
us-to-understand-evolution/
• http://book.bionumbers.org/how-big-are-viruses/