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Virology

Virus Introduction

What are Viruses?

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Obligate intracellular pathogens that:

  • Cannot make their own energy

  • Depend on a Host Cell's biochemical machinery for it's:

    • replication​

    • transcription

    • translation

Vocabulary

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Virus

A broad umbrella term for any aspect of this type of infectious agent, including:

  • Infectious or inactivated virus particle

  • Viral nucleic acid & protein in an infected cell

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Virion

Physical particle in the extracellular phase, able to spread to new host cells

  • Complete intact virus particle

How Small Are Viruses?

Virus Size comparison.png

Comparison of Characteristics of

Infectious Microorganisms

Virus Comparison Chart.png
Structure of a Virus
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