Lecture 5

Viruses And Virology

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Learning Outcomes:
 Students should be able to:
 Define viruses

 List the characteristics used in classifying

viruses

 Describe the basic structures of viruses

 Differentiate the lytic and lysogenic

replication cycles
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WHAT are Viruses?
 Non-living infectious
entities/particles
 Obligate intracellular
parasites
 Contain genetic element
 Exist either in extracellular
or intracellular forms

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 Extracellular vs intracellular

 The extracellular form:

 exist outside the host cell
 Known as virus particles/virion;
 enables them to survive outside the host for long
periods, facilitating the transmission from one host
cell to another.
 The intracellular is achieved once inside the host cell,
exist solely as nucleic acid.

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 Virion
 The extracellular form of a virus
 Contains RNA or DNA genome
surrounded by protein and other
macromolecules.
 Is metabolically inert
 Virions came in many shapes and
sizes.
 Much smaller than the prokaryotes
 Unit used is nanometer
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 Viral genomes
 DNA or RNA

 Viruses can be further classified based on the

nucleic acid ss or ds; linear or circular.

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 Positive and Negative strand RNA
viruses

 Positive-strand RNA virus

 a virus that has a single-stranded RNA genome
with the same orientation as its mRNA.

 Negative-strand RNA virus

 a virus whose single-stranded RNA genome is
complementary to its mRNA.

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Viral Taxonomy
 International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
(ICTV)
 Viruses have been classified based on:
 1.
 2.
 3.
 4.
 5.
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 Viral hosts and taxonomy
 Host specific.
 Some are cell specific while some can cross infect
species.
 Example of viruses as per the hosts they infect;
 Bacteriophages

 Animal viruses

 Plant viruses

 Other viruses

 Why are they specific only to certain hosts?

- surface macromolecular interaction between the
host cell and the viruses
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 Animal viruses:
 Have been extensively studied due
their medical importance

 Plant Viruses:
 Have been least studied
 But have enormous importance to
modern agriculture

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 Bacterial Viruses
 Commonly known as bacteriophages
 Best-studied ones are those that infect
enteric bacteria such as E. coli
 Infect prokaryotes.

 Intensively studied as model systems for

molecular biology and genetics of viral
reproduction
 Basic concepts of virology was first worked
out using them and this knowledge was
applied to viruses of higher organisms
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 Bacteriophages

http://www.professorcrista.com/files/animati
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ons/madigan%20animations/Phage.html
An example of Viral Classification

 Order Mononegavirales

 Family Filoviridae (similar virion

morphology, genome structure ,
replication strategy)

 Genus Filovirus

 Species: Ebola virus Zaire

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 Viral structure
 Quite diverse, varying in shapes, sizes and
chemical composition
 The basic structures are:
 Nucleic acids
 Capsid
 Nucleocapsid
 Envelope

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 Capsid:
 surrounds the nucleic acid/genome
 composed of proteinaceous
subunits (capsomeres) arranged in
precisely, highly repetitive pattern
around the nucleic acid.
 few viruses have only a single kind
of protein in their capsid while most
have several structural subunits
 Functions of capsid:

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Non-enveloped virus vs
Enveloped virus

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 Viral symmetry & Morphology

 Nucleocapsid – arranged in a symmetric fashion

 Symmetry refers to nucleocapsid arrangement

 Two kinds of symmetries which correspond to two

primary shapes; rod and spherical

 Rod-shaped viruses have helical symmetry

 Spherical viruses have icosahedral symmetry.

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Helical symmetry of tobacco mosaic
virus

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Icosahedral virus particle

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 Enveloped Viruses
 Envelope - Consists of a lipid bilayer with proteins,
usually glycoproteins (from the host cell)

 Although membranous, they do not perform the normal

function of a cytoplasmic membrane.

 The viral membrane is derived from the host during viral

replication or release.

 Critical for the attachment of the virus to the host cell.

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Naked virus vs Enveloped virus

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 Complex Viruses

 Made of several parts and

symmetries

 Examples are bacteriophages

 Bacteriophages have head,

tail, sheath and so on.

 Some have icosahedral heads

as well as helical tails

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 Enzymes in virions
 Some viruses contain enzymes which play important
roles in the infection process.
 Enzymes are required for early events in the infection
process.
 Eg. Lysozymes, nucleic acid polymerase &
neuraminidase
 Lysozyme – cleave the glycosidic bonds on the
peptidoglycan
 Neuraminidase – cleave glycosidic bonds in the
glycolipids & glycoproteins of animal cell connective
tissue 24
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 Cultivation of Animal Viruses

 Grown in living animals, embryonated eggs or

cell cultures/organs
 Useful in virus research

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 Cultivation of Plant Viruses
 Plant viruses are difficult to work with.
 Why?
 require the use of the whole plant
 plants grow much slower than bacteria
 plant viruses must be able to break through the thick
cell wall in order to infect.

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 Viral replication
 Five stages in viral replication
1. Attachment
2. Penetration
3. Replication of viral nucleic acid
and synthesis of viral proteins
4. Assembly of viral particles
5. Release of virions
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 Viral replication
(APSAR)
Protein coat Virions
Virion remains outside
DNA Viral DNA enters

Cell (host)

1. Attachment 2. Penetration 3. Synthesis of 4. Assembly and 5. Cell lysis and

(adsorption of of viral viral nucleic acid packaging of release of
phage virion) nucleic acid and protein new viruses new virions

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 1. Attachment
 Adsorption of the virion to a susceptible host
 Virion has one or more proteins on the outside
 These proteins interact with specific cell surface components
(host) called receptors such are proteins, carbohydrates,
glycoproteins, lipids, lipoproteins.
 Absence of the specific receptor, the virus cannot adsorb and
infect
 If the receptor site is altered via mutation; the host become
resistant to virus replication
 Some viruses have more than one receptor, so the loss of one
may not necessarily prevent attachment
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 Chi M13 T4
Flagellum
T1 Iron
Pilus transport ϕX174
MS2 protein
LPS

Outer membrane Peptidoglycan Cytoplasmic membrane

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 2. Penetration

 Injection of viral nucleic acid into the cell

 Only the viral nucleic acid enters into the cell/nucleus. Te

other structures are uncoated at the cell
membrane/nuclear membrane.

 Host DNA is degraded upon the injection of viral nucleic

acid

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 T4 virion
Tail
fibers

Tail pins

Outer
membrane Tail tube

Site of tail
Peptidoglycan
lysozyme
activity
Cytoplasmic
membrane

Cytoplasm
T4 genome
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 Virus Restriction & Modification by
the Host
 Animals have immune defense mechanism to
eliminate pathogenic infection
 Prokaryotes such as bacteria use restriction
endonucleases which cleave foreign DNA at specific
sites – the host protects its own DNA by modifying
the gene at the restriction sites
 RE is specific only to double-stranded DNA
 Some viruses evade this mechanism of protection
by protecting their DNA or RNA
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 The other steps…
3. Viral nucleic acid replication &
Synthesis of protein :
 structural proteins that are subunits of the
viral capsids are synthesized

4. Assembly :
 assembly of the capsomers and packaging of
nucleic acids into new virions.

5. Release.
 Release of mature virions from the cell 36
 Lytic & Lysogenic cycle
 Viruses undergo either of this replication cycle
 Lytic – rapid replication of viruses, lyse of host cells
after infection
 Lysogenic – host cells are not killed immediately,
replicate their genomes (viruses) in tandem with the
host genome
 Viruses which undergo lytic cycle are known as
virulent viruses
 Viruses which undergo lysogenic cycle are known
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as temperate viruses.
Lytic

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Lysogenic

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 Lysogeny
 State in which viral genome become integrated into the
host chromosome and lytic events are repressed.

 Viral DNA is integrated into the host DNA becoming a

prophage and replicated along with the host cell which is
now known as a lysogen.

 The viral nucleic acids will be excised from the prophage

upon environmental stimuli resuming the lytic cycle of
viral nucleic acid replication, synthesis of proteins,
assembly and release

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Temperate virus Host DNA
Viral DNA Attachment of the
virus to the host cell

Cell (host)

Injection of viral DNA

Lytic pathway Lysogenic pathway

Lytic events
are initiated.

Induction

Phage components Viral DNA is

are synthesized integrated
and virions are into host DNA.
assembled.
Lysogenized
cell
Prophage

Lysis of the host Viral DNA is

cell and release replicated
of new phage with host DNA
virions at cell division.

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Tutorial 7
1. Define viruses.
2. Differentiate extracellular and intracellular viruses.
3. Draw the basic structure of a virus with and without the
envelope.
4. What factor contributes the specificity of viral infection?
5. Explain why bacteriophages are commonly used to study the
basic viral properties. In addition, explain why animal or
plant viruses are not commonly used for this purpose.
6. Which microscope can be used to view viruses?

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7. Is the envelope the same as the plasma membrane?
8. Relate the importance of lysozyme and neuraminidase to
the respective viruses.
9. Explain how a bacterium protects itself from being
infected by ds DNA viruses. Does this mean that all ds
DNA viruses are not able to infect bacteria? Explain
your answer.
10. Differentiate the lytic and lysogenic cycle.

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