Give a brief account of viruses with respect to their structure and nature of genetic material. Also name four common viral diseases.
Give a brief account of viruses with respect to their structure and nature of genetic material. Also name four common viral diseases.
Viruses are sub-microscopic infectious agents that can infect all living organisms. The entire infectious virus particle, called a virion, consists of the nucleic acid and an outer shell of protein. The nucleic acid may be single- or double-stranded and most viruses have either RNA or DNA as their genetic material.
The simplest viruses contain only enough RNA or DNA to encode four proteins.
Now plant infecting viruses, have single stranded RNA as genetic material and viruses infecting animals have single or double stranded RNA or double stranded DNA.
Bacteriophages or viruses infecting bacteria mostly have double stranded DNA. Their protein coat called capsid is made up of capsomere subunits. These capsomeres are arranged in helical or polyhedral geometric forms.
Few examples of viral diseases are
A.I.D.S,
small pox,
mumps and
influenza.
Viruses are sub-microscopic infectious agents that can infect all living organisms. The entire infectious virus particle, called a virion, consists of the nucleic acid and an outer shell of protein. The nucleic acid may be single- or double-stranded and most viruses have either RNA or DNA as their genetic material.
The simplest viruses contain only enough RNA or DNA to encode four proteins.
Now plant infecting viruses, have single stranded RNA as genetic material and viruses infecting animals have single or double stranded RNA or double stranded DNA.
Bacteriophages or viruses infecting bacteria mostly have double stranded DNA. Their protein coat called capsid is made up of capsomere subunits. These capsomeres are arranged in helical or polyhedral geometric forms.
Few examples of viral diseases are
A.I.D.S,
small pox,
mumps and
influenza.
