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2021-05-14

What is the difference between DNA virus replication and RNA virus replication?

What is the difference between DNA virus replication and RNA virus replication?

DNA viruses like the poxvirus are packaged with their polymerase machinery so they can replicate in the host cytoplasm directly. RNA viruses infect cells by injecting RNA into the cytoplasm of the host cells to transcribe and replicate viral proteins.

What is the difference between DNA and RNA retroviruses viruses?

DNA viruses contain usually double‐stranded DNA (dsDNA) and rarely single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA). These viruses replicate using DNA‐dependent DNA polymerase. Compared to DNA virus genomes, which can encode up to hundreds of viral proteins, RNA viruses have smaller genomes that usually encode only a few proteins.

How do RNA viruses replicate?

RNA viruses replicate their genomes via one of two unique pathways—either by RNA-dependent RNA synthesis, or among the retroviruses, by RNA-dependent DNA synthesis (reverse transcription) followed by DNA replication and transcription.

What is an essential component of all viruses?

The simplest virions consist of two basic components: nucleic acid (single- or double-stranded RNA or DNA) and a protein coat, the capsid, which functions as a shell to protect the viral genome from nucleases and which during infection attaches the virion to specific receptors exposed on the prospective host cell.

How do virologists classify viruses?

A major branch of virology is virus classification. Viruses can be classified according to the host cell they infect: animal viruses, plant viruses, fungal viruses, and bacteriophages (viruses infecting bacteria, which include the most complex viruses).

What are the three main types of viruses?

The Three Major Types of Computer Viruses

  • Macro viruses – These are the largest of the three virus types. They use built-in programming scripts in such applications as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word to automate the tasks.
  • Boot record infectors – These viruses are known also as boot viruses or system viruses.
  • File infectors – These viruses target .

Are viruses multicellular?

Viruses are not classified as cells and therefore are neither unicellular nor multicellular organisms. Most people do not even classify viruses as “living” as they lack a metabolic system and are dependent on the host cells that they infect to reproduce.

How do viruses multiply in the body?

For viruses to multiply, they usually need support of the cells they infect. Only in their host´s nucleus can they find the machines, proteins, and building blocks with which they can copy their genetic material before infecting other cells. But not all viruses find their way into the cell nucleus.

Where do RNA viruses multiply?

Most DNA viruses assemble in the nucleus; most RNA viruses develop solely in cytoplasm. Viral populations do not grow through cell division, because they are acellular. Instead, they hijack the machinery and metabolism of a host cell to produce multiple copies of themselves, and they assemble inside the cell.

What criteria of life do viruses meet?

Viruses are infectious agents with both living and nonliving characteristics. Living characteristics of viruses include the ability to reproduce – but only in living host cells – and the ability to mutate.

What do viruses have in common with living cells they both?

Still, viruses have some important features in common with cell-based life. For instance, they have nucleic acid genomes based on the same genetic code that’s used in your cells (and the cells of all living creatures). Also, like cell-based life, viruses have genetic variation and can evolve.