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    Note 3 Virus PDF

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    Rufaida Taaha
    There are over 10 million known species of organisms on Earth that scientists group into six kingdoms. Viruses are not considered living but are able to reproduce by taking over a host cell's machinery. A virus is composed of genetic material surrounded by a protein capsid, and some have an envelope. Viruses are classified by their nucleic acid as DNA or RNA viruses, and reproduce by attaching to and injecting their material into a host cell to produce more virus particles until the cell dies. While some viruses can be beneficial in vaccines or pest control, many cause diseases in animals and plants.

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    Note 3 Virus PDF

    Uploaded by

    Rufaida Taaha
    15 views4 pages
    There are over 10 million known species of organisms on Earth that scientists group into six kingdoms. Viruses are not considered living but are able to reproduce by taking over a host cell's machinery. A virus is composed of genetic material surrounded by a protein capsid, and some have an envelope. Viruses are classified by their nucleic acid as DNA or RNA viruses, and reproduce by attaching to and injecting their material into a host cell to produce more virus particles until the cell dies. While some viruses can be beneficial in vaccines or pest control, many cause diseases in animals and plants.

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    There are over 10 million known species of organisms on Earth that scientists group into six kingdoms. Viruses are not considered living but are able to reproduce by taking over a host cell's machinery. A virus is composed of genetic material surrounded by a protein capsid, and some have an envelope. Viruses are classified by their nucleic acid as DNA or RNA viruses, and reproduce by attaching to and injecting their material into a host cell to produce more virus particles until the cell dies. While some viruses can be beneficial in vaccines or pest control, many cause diseases in animals and plants.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    15 views4 pages

    Note 3 Virus PDF

    Uploaded by

    Rufaida Taaha
    There are over 10 million known species of organisms on Earth that scientists group into six kingdoms. Viruses are not considered living but are able to reproduce by taking over a host cell's machinery. A virus is composed of genetic material surrounded by a protein capsid, and some have an envelope. Viruses are classified by their nucleic acid as DNA or RNA viruses, and reproduce by attaching to and injecting their material into a host cell to produce more virus particles until the cell dies. While some viruses can be beneficial in vaccines or pest control, many cause diseases in animals and plants.

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    The variety of living organisms

    There are more than ten million species of organisms on the today’s Earth and many more that
    once lived on the Earth but are now extinct. Many scientists classified the organisms into
    different groups based on the similarities and differences they possess. According to them,
    members of each group are descended from a common ancestor by the process of evolution. The
    major groups of living organisms scientists proposed are-

    • Plants
    • Animals
    • Fungi
    • Protoctists
    • Bacteria
    • Virus

    Virus

    A virus is not a cell. It is a particle. It has no nucleus or cytoplasm. It is between 0.01 and 0.1 µm
    in diameter which is smaller than a bacterial cell.
    A virus can be considered either as living or as a chemical. It does not have any of the normal
    characteristics of living things, such as feeding, respiration, excretion,movement, growth or
    sensitivity except that it is able to reproduce.
    Viruses can reproduce only inside a host cell, by taking over the cell’s genetic machinery to
    make more virus particles. So viruses are all parasites.
    Structure of a virus:
    Virus is composed of a core genetic material surrounded by a protein coat called capsid. The
    capsid is made of small unit called capsomere. The genetic material can either be DNA or RNA.
    In either case, the genetic material makes up just a few genes which are needed for the virus to
    reproduce inside its host cell. Sometimes, a membrane called an envelope stolen from host cell
    membrane may surround a virus particle, as in flu virus. In addition to these, some viruses may
    contain an enzyme called reverse transcriptase which convert RNA into DNA.

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    Types of virus:
    Based on the type of nucleic acids they possess, virus may be classified as DNA virus and RNA
    virus. A DNA virus contains DNA(Deoxyribonucleic acid) as its genetic material. Examples of
    DNA virus are -
    • T2 bacteriophage
    • Smallpox virus
    • Adenoviruses
    • Herpes simplex virus
    • Hepatitis B virus
    RNA virus contains RNA (Ribonucleic acid) as its genetic material.Examples of RNA virus are-
    • TMV(Tobacco masaic virus)
    • Polio virus
    • Influenza virus
    • HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)
    • Hepatitis C virus

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    Reproduction in virus:
    Virus such as T2 bacteriophage may attack host cell, such as, bacterial cell and multiply its
    number inside the host.
    It involves the following steps:
    • It attaches to the host cell, i.e., the cell wall of the bacterium
    • It injects its nucleic acid, i.e., DNA into the bacterial cell
    • This DNA becomes incorporated into the DNA of the host cell
    • It takes over the host’s genetic machinery to make more virus particles.
    • After many virus particles have been made, the host cell dies and the particles are
    released from the host cell by lysis to infect more cells

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    Importance of virus:

    Beneficial aspect:
    • Virus can be used in making vaccine, e.g., inactivated polio virus is used to make
    polio vaccine
    • Virus, such as myxomatosis, can be used as a biological control agent in controlling
    the number of rabbits to increase crop production

    Harmful aspect:

    • Some viruses can cause disease in animals. For example, HIV causing AIDS in
    human, influenza virus causes influenza in human etc.
    • Virus also cause disease in plants and thus reduce the yield of crops. For example,
    TMV infects tobacco leaves. It interferes with the ability of the tobacco plant to make
    chloroplasts, causing mottled patches to develop on the leaves.

    4|P ag e

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