Viruses

CHAPTER 10 SECTION 3
 Objectives

 Explain how viruses are similar and different from

living things

 List the 4 main virus shapes

 Describe the 2 kinds of viral reproduction

Quick Question…

 Are viruses living?

 What’s a virus??

 A microscopic particle that gets inside a cell and

often destroys the cell

 Many viruses cause diseases

 The common cold

 The flu

 AIDS
 Size

 Smaller than the smallest bacteria

 About 5 billion virus particles could fit in a single

drop of blood!

 Viruses can change rapidly

 Because they change so rapidly, we don’t know how

many there are…they are difficult to fight
 Are Viruses Living?

 Like living things:

 contain protein and genetic information

 Not like living things:

 Can’t eat

 Can’t grow

 can’t break down food

 Can’t use oxygen

*Viruses cannot function on their own…

What is a virus???
 Living or Not?

 Viruses are not cells

 No cytoplasm, no organelles

 Can only reproduce only inside a host cell

 Host: a living thing that a virus or parasite lives on or

in
 Host cells are used as tiny factories; the virus forces the host to
make viruses rather than healthy cells!
 Classifying Viruses

 Grouped by:
 Shape

 Type of disease they cause

 Their life cycle

 Kind of genetic material they contain

 Viruses

http://betterhealthnaturally.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/virus1.jpg
 Shape

 Crystals
 Ex: Polio

 Cylinders
 Tobacco Mosaic Virus

 Spheres
 Influenza

 Spacecraft?
 T-4 Bacteriophage (attack bacteria!)
 Polio

http://www.npspindia.org/images/Polio-Virus.jpg
 Tobacco Mosaic Virus

http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/LAD/C4b/graphics/C4b_TMV.GIF
 Influenza Virus

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2006/Kelly/influenzafigure1.jpg

http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/images/influenza_virus_Kawaoka04.jpg
 T-4 Bacteriophage

http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/Images/BacteriophageCartoon.jpg

http://www.cbe21.com/subject/biology/photo/03060201/1341/T4%20bacteriophage2.jpg
 Viral Structure

 Made of genetic material inside a protein coat

 Protein coat protects the genetic material & helps the

virus enter the host cell

 Some protein coats match the characteristics of the

host’s
 Viral Structure

 Genetic material is either RNA or DNA

 RNA is made up of one strand of nucleotides

 DNA is made of 2 strands of nucleotides

 RNA & DNA contain information about making

proteins
 Viruses that contain DNA: warts, chicken pox
 Viruses that contain RNA: colds, flu, AIDS
 A Destructive House Guest

 Viruses attack living cells and turn them into virus

factories

 This cycle is called the LYTIC CYCLE

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/virus-human-lytic.gif
 Steps of the Lytic Cycle

1. Virus joins itself to a host cell

2. Virus enters the cell or its genetic material is

injected into the cell

3. Once the genes are inside, they take over the host
cell and turn it into a virus factory

4. New viruses break out of the host cell, which kills

the host. The cycle begins again…
 A Time Bomb: Lysogenic Cycle

 Some viruses don’t go straight into the Lytic Cycle

 Genetic material is injected, but new viruses are not

made right away

 Genes stay inactive for a long time…when active the

Lytic Cycle begins…
 Treating a Virus

 Antibiotics do NOT kill viruses

 Antiviral medications do – stop viruses from

reproducing

 Prevention is the best cure

 Childhood vaccinations help

 Wash your hands, drink plenty of fluids…

 Quick Quiz:

 List 3 shapes of viruses and give an example of each

 How are viruses like and unlike living things?