Viruses

Viruses

Updated 13/02/01

The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s leisure Sidney J. Harris
	Humour in its lowest form

Who am I? Together with Jean Lindenmann, we discovered and isolated interferon, the first cytokine

	Viruses
	Baron Medical Microbiology Introduction to Virology		Brock 9th Ed Biology of Microorganisms Chapt 8 Viruses
	Tortora: Microbiology An Introduction Chapter 13: Viruses		Jacquelyn Black 4th Ed Microbiology: Principles & Explorations Chapt 10 Viruses
Lecture Topic	Slides	Web Animation	Download
Structure of Viruses
Virus Replication
Viral Classification

DEFINE THE FOLLOWING KEY TERMS
Viruses	Host Range	bacteriophage	phage
virion	capsid	capsomere	viral envelope
spikes	peplomer	hemagglutinin	hemagglutination
polyhedral viruses	icosahedron	Complex virus	helical virus
plaques	plaque forming units	cytopathic effect	CPE
Lytic cycle	burst time	burst size	lysogenic cycle
specialized transduction	endocytosis	Viral Fusion	Siglum
Sigla	Sense strand RNA	Antisensestrand RNA	Reverse Transcriptase
Prions	Viroid	Adenovirus	Poxvirus
Herpesvirus	Papovavirus	Hepadnavirus	Togavirus
Reovirus	Retrovirus	Picornavirus	provirus

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

How do viruses differ from bacteria?
Give four characteristics that define viruses.
Describe the chemical and physical structure of bath an enveloped and a non enveloped virus.
What is the chemical composition of a capsid?
Describe how bacteriophages are cultured.
Describe how animal viruses are cultured.
What is a plaque forming unit?
LIST three techniques used to identify viruses.
Describe the lytic cycle of T even bacteriophages.
Describe the lysogenic cycle of T even bacteriophages.
List 5 stages in order of the T even bacteriophage lytic cycle.
How does lysogeny differ from the lytic cycle?
Compare and contrast the multiplication cycle of DNA and RNA containing animal viruses.
How does specialized transduction differ from the lytic cycle?
Compare viral penetration by endocytosis and by fusion.
List 7 steps in order for the multiplication of a DNA virus such as Papovavirus.
Why is the - strand RNA made by picornaviruses and reoviruses? by rhabdoviruses?
How does the biosynthesis of a retrovirus differ from that of other RNA viruses?
Differentiate between slow viral infections and latent viral infections
Discuss how a protein (eg prion) can be infectious.
Differentiate among virion, viroid and prion.
Why do we classify viruses as obligatory intracellular parasites?
Describe the four morphological classes of viruses, then diagram and give an example of each.
Vibrio cholerae produces toxin and is capable of causing cholera only when it is lysogenic. What does this mean?
Describe how bacteriophages are detected
Discuss the aruguments for and against the classification of viruses as living organsims.
Prophages and proviruses have been described as being similar to bacterial plasmids. What similar properties do they exhibit? How are they different?
A newborn female developed extensive vesicular and ulcerative lesions over her face and chest. What is the most likely cause of her symptoms? How would you determine the viral cause of this disease without doing a viral culture?