Virology - 1 Fundamentals

Skern - Coffee House Notes on Virology

Skern - Coffee House Notes on Virology

Iris Bachtrog

Iris Bachtrog

Kartei Details

Karten 29
Sprache Deutsch
Kategorie Biologie
Stufe Universität
Erstellt / Aktualisiert 28.01.2017 / 28.01.2017
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What are viruses?

*obligate intracellular parasites

*made up pf nucleic adic, protein, sometimes lipid

*does not code for ribosomes, mitochondria

*do not reproduce by division, they are assembled from pre-formed complexes

Key steps in viral life-cycles

*Attachment

*Entry

*Uncoating

*Expression of genetic information

*Replication of genetic information

*Assembly

*Maturation

*Release

Uncoating can occur...

*at the plasma membrane

*in the cytosol

*at the nuclear membrane

Expression of genetic information produces proteins for

*virus particle

*nucleic acid synthesis

*virus-host interactions

example for Class I Virus:

ds DNA Virus:

eg Herpes simplex virus type 1

example for Class II Virus:

(-)ssDNA

eg feline parovirus

example for Class III virus:

ds RNA Virus:

eg human rotavirus

example for Class IV Virus:

+ssRNA Virus

eg Hepatitis C Virus

example for Class V Virus:

-ssRNA Virus:

Measles Virus

example for Class VI Virus:

+ssRNA Virus with a DNA intermediate (Retrovirus)

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV)

Why do viruses keep their genomes small?

*the larger the genome, the longer the time needed to replicate it

*....the larger the capsid must be

*...the higher the probability of mutations

Four strategies to keep viral genomes small:

*all viruses use cellular machinery to generate energy and synthesise proteins - viral genomes do not need to code for such machinery

*some viruses use the same region of nucleic acid to code for different proteins
----more than 1 ORF in same region of nucleic acid

----using different reading frames on one strand

---- encoding proteins on both strands

 

*some viruses produce one large RNA (PRIMARY TRANSCRIPT) which is spliced by cellular splicing machinery to generate several mRNAs

*some viruses produce single large protein POLYPROTEIN which is cleaved by viral and cellular proteases to mature proteins

What characteristics drive viral evolution?

*viruses produce a large number of descendants - viral replication generates a large number of mutants

*viruses can evolve by recombination of genomes

*certain viruses can evolve by reassortment of genome segments

large numbers of mutant viruses can be selected for fitness in new environments and hosts - new possibilities often provided by human behaviour

*high density agriculture

*water regulation

*drug abuse

*sexual practices

emerging viruses are generated from existing ones:

*known viruses change to become able to infect an immune population

*known virus is exposed to a naive population

* nown viruses changes its host range to enter a different species

which perameters limit the evolution of viruses?

*icosahedral viral capsids limit size of nucleid acid

*virus is dependent on host systems for decoding genetic information

*mutations may adversly affect activity of viral proteins

*an extremely virulent virus kills its host and therefore itself

*too many mutations lead to a non-viable virus

two types of symmtetry, found in virus particles:

*icosahedral symmetry

*helical symmetry

icosahedral symmetry:

*regular polyhedron with 20 faces
   *polyhedron has 3 types of symmetry axes: 12 five fold, 20 three fold, 30 two fold axes

VIRUS PARTICLES MUST HAVE AT LEAST 60 COPIES OF ONE PROTEIN TO OBEY ICOSAHEDRAL SYMMETRY

or multiples of 60

helical symmetry:

*proteins arranged in simple repeating unit around nucleic acid

*each protein occupies the same position, makes identical interactions with its neighbours and the nucleic acid

consequences of icosahedral symmetry:

* volume of icosahedral limits size of nucleic acid
-rules of symmetry must still be obeyed - limits number of proteins to certain multiples of 60 - 180, 240, 420, etc

difference in proteins on surface of icosahedron allows antigenic variation

consequences of helical symmetry:

helical structure formed around nucleic acid - theoretically no limit to lenght

proteins occupying identical position makes antigenic variation difficult 

viruses present in blood

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis C

viruses present in semen

HIV1

HTLV1

viruses present in feces:

poliovirus

human rotavirus

viruses present in respiratory droplets:

measles

influenza A

viruses in saliva:

Epstein.Barr virus

herpes simplex 1

viruses which are risk factors for cancer:

Hepatitis B, C

HTLV1

Epstein-Barr 

HPV

viruses which can cause long-term infections

Hepatitis B, C

HSV1

HIV1

HTLV1

Epstein-Barr

Which properties should a viral vaccine have to make it sage and efficient?

*should induce protection against a pathogenic virus without itself causing disease

*immune response generated by vaccine should resemble as closely as possible the response generated by pathogenic agent

*vaccines should induce the production of memory B and memory T  cell

*vaccines should induce long-term production with just one or few inoculations

*should be cheap

*should be seen as a clear advantage by society