Biology

CHAPTER
Chapter 8 2

Viruses

VIRUSES
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Chapter Outline

2.1

Discovery

2.4

Multiplication of Bacteriophages

2.2

Classification of Viruses

2.5

Viral diseases in Plants

2.3

Structure of Viruses

2.6

Viral diseases in Humans

VIRUSES
Viruses are a unique group of "Biological entities"
known to infect every type of cell, including those
of bacteria, algae, fungi, Protozoa, plants and
animals; Remember that you have already gone
through an introductory account of viruses in your
first year course.
Viruses are very different from other organisms.
They are not composed of cells and cannot be seen
under a light microscope. A virus particle contains
a single type of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA.
The nucleic acid is enclosed in a protein coat and
the coat is sometimes covered in an envelope of
lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. Viruses do not
exhibit most of the life processes of a cell, but
maintain genetic continuity through multiplication
and undergo mutations. Thus, they are certainly more
than inert lifeless molecules. Viruses are best
described as infectious particles.
Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites i.e.
they cannot multiply unless they invade a specific
host cell and instruct its genetic and metabolic
machinery to make and release daughter or progeny
viruses. In this process, they destroy the host cells
causing serious damage and diseases in humans,
plants and animals. The study of viruses is known
as Virology.
2.1 Discovery
Viruses have been victimizing mankind from
ancient times, causing many diseases in humans and
also in economically useful plants and animals. An
identifiable agent responsible for these diseases
was not known, even after the proposition of the
germ theory of disease. In 1892 for the first time,
the Russian pathologist Dmitri Iwanowski, while
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studying tobacco mosaic disease, filtered the

sap of diseased tobacco leaf through filter which
was designed to retain bacteria. However the
'infectious agent' passed through the pores of the
filter. After injecting the filtered sap into a healthy
plant, he found the development of symptoms of
mosaic disease in it. Unable to see any
microorganism in the clear sap. Iwanowski reported
that a filterable agent was responsible for the
disease. Later, Martinus Beijerinck repeated
Iwanowski's experiments and concluded that the
disease causing agent was a 'contagious living fluid'
(contagium vivum fluidum) rather than a
discrete entity.
W.M. Stanley (1935) purified the sap and
announced that the virus causing mosaic disease
in tobacco could be crystallized. It was named
Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) Franekel Conrat
(1956) confirmed that the genetic material of the
TMV is RNA. Utilizing the techniques of
ultracentrifugation, X-ray crystallography and
electron microscopy, a number of new viruses were
reported and their ultrastructure was elucidated.

properties of viruses
. Living
They are obligate intracellular parasites, i.e, they

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cannot exist outside the host cell.

They can multiply inside the living cell like any
other organisms
They contain genetic material namely DNA or
RNA
Genetic material undergoes mutations

Non - living properties of viruses

They can be crystallized and stored in bottles
They do not have cells (non cellular)
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They do not show any metabolic activities

They cannot multiply outside the host (obligate
parasites)
Viruses are insensitive to antibiotics due to
the absence of any inherent metabolism.
2.2 Classification of Viruses
At present the International Committee on
Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) regulates the norms
of classification and nomenclature of viruses. The
ICTV scheme has only three hierarchial levels - the
Family (including some sub families)Genus and
Species. The family names end with the suffix
'viridae' while the genus names with 'virus' and the
species names are common English expressions
describing their nature. Viruses are named after
the disease they cause (e.g. polio virus) Using the
ICTV system, the virus that causes Acquired
immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in human
beings is classified as : Family : Retroviridae, Genus:
lentivrius, Species: Human Immune deficiency
Virus (HIV)
Eg : Retro viruses such as HIV possess a single
stranded RNA genome but differ from other RNA
viruses in that they first synthesize DNA before
transcribing m - RNA and replicate their genome.
The transformation of RNA into DNA takes place
by RNA dependent DNA polymerase enzyme
(reverse transcriptase).
ss RNA ss DNA ds DNA mRNA

Viruses

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2.3 Structure of Viruses

Viruses range in size from 300 nanometers (nm) as
in TMV to 20 nm as in parvoviruses. At the upper
end of the spectrum, viruses approximate the size
of the smallest bacterial cells such as mycoplasmas
and at the lower end, they have about the same
diameter as that of a 'ribosome'. Viruses may be
classified into several different morphological
types. Helical viruses resemble long rods that may
be rigid or flexible like rabies virus and tobacco
mosaic virus. Many animal , plant and bacterial
viruses are polyhedral (many-sided) Herpes simplex
and polio viruses exist in this form. The capsid of
some viruses is covered by an envelope and such
enveloped viruses are roughly spherical. Influenza
virus is an enveloped virus. Bacteriophages, the
viruses which infect bacteria, have complicated
structures and are called complex viruses. They
have 'polyhedral symmetry' in the 'head' and
helical symmetry' in the 'tails sheath'. In some viruses
such as the measles virus, the envelope contains
'glycoprotein projections known as spikes. The
spikes function in attaching the virus to receptors
on susceptible host cells.
All viruses consists of two basic components a core
of nucleic acid that forms the genome and the
surroundings coat of protein known as capsid. The

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capsid gives shape to the virus and provides a

protective covering for the genome. It is made up
of protein subunits called capsomeres. The
number of capsomeres in characteristic for each
types of virus.
A Virus contains its genetic information in either a
double stranded (ds ) DNA, or single stranded (ss)
DNA, ie, dsDNA or ssDNA. In general, viruses
that infect animals have dsDNA. Bacteriophages
are usually dsDNA viruses. Viral nucleic acid
molecules are either circular or linear. Most viruses
have a single nucleic acid molecule. but a few have
more than one (e.g HIV which has two identical
molecules of RNA, representing its genomic
copies.

Viruses

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The body of a typical bacteriophage such as T4

can be distinguished into head and tail regions
joined by a collar. The tail region includes a tail
sheath, a base plate, pins and tail fibres which help
the virus attach to host cell. The tail sheath aids
in injecting viral DNA into the host cell.

Let us look at the detailed structure of two typical

viruses - the TMV and T4 phage..
The tobacco mosaic virus is about 300 nm long and
18 nm in diameter, with a molecular weight of
39 106 Daltons. The capsid is made of 2.130
protein subunits of identical size, called capsomeres.
The capsomeres are arranged in a helical manner
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around a central hollow space of 4 nm
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Each protein subunit is made up of single

polypeptide chain which possess 158 amino acids.
Inside the protein capsid there is a single stranded
spirally coiled RNA molecule consisting of 6,500
nucleotides.
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2.4 Multiplicaiton of Bacteriophages

For a virus to multiply or reproduce or replicate, it
must invade a host cell and take over the host's
metabolic machinery. Though the method by
which a virus enters and exits a host cell may vary,
the basic mechanism of viral multiplicaiton is
similar for all viruses. The best understood viral
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like cycles are those of the bacteriophages. Phages

can multiply by two alternative mechanisms: the
lyitc cycle and the lysogenic cycle. The lytic cycle
ends with the 'lysis ' or death of the host cell,
whereas the host cells remains alive in the lysogenic
cycle.
T-even phages that attack the bacterium E.coli cause
lysis of the cells and are called virulent phages.
They show lytic cycle which is a five -step process
involving attachment, penetration, biosynthesis,
maturation and release.
After a chance contact between phage particles and
bacteria , attachment or adsorption occurs. The
phages use tail fibres for attachment to the
complementary receptor sites on the bacterial cell
wall. Attachments is followed by the process of
penetration, during which the tail sheath of phage
contracts. and the tail core is driven in through the
bacterial cell wall. When the tip of the core reaches
the plasma membrane, the DNA from the
bacteriophage head passes through the tail core
through the plasma membrane and enters the
bacterial cell. The capsid remains outside the
bacterial cell and is referred to as ghost. Thus, the
phage particle functions like a hypodermic syringe
and injects its DNA into the bacterial cell.
Once the phage DNA reaches the cytoplasm of the
host cell, many copies of phage DNA, enzymes
and capsid proteins are synthesized, using the cellular
machinery of the host cell. For several minutes
following infection, complete phages cannot be
found in the host cell but the individual DNA and
protein components can be detected. The next in
the sequence of events is the process of
'maturation'. In this process, bacteriophage DNA and
capsids are assembled into complete virions . This
period of time between the infection by a virus and
the appearance of the mature virus within the cell
is called the eclipse period.

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Viruses

The final stage of viral multiplication is the lysis

phase of the host cell and the release of virions
from the host cell. The plasma membrane of the
host cell gets dissolved or lysed due to the viral
enzyme, called lysozyme, an enzyme synthesized
within the cell and the bacterial cell wall breaks
releasing the newly produced phage particles /
virions.
The number of newly synthesized phage particles
released from a single cell is referred to as the burst
size". and it usually ranges from about 50 to 200.
The released phage particles infect other susceptible
cells in the vicinity and the multiplication cycle is
repeated.
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Viruses

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2.4.1 The Lysogenic Cycle

Some bacteriophages such as (Lambda) phages
do not cause lysis and death of the host cell when
they multiply. Instead, the phage DNA upon
penetration into an E.coli gets integrated in to the
circular bacterial DNA, becomes part of it and
remains latent (inactive) such phages are called
temperate phages. The inserted phage DNA is now
called prophage. Every time the bacterial genetic
material replicates, the prophage also undergoes
replication. The prophage remains latent within the
progeny cells. However, in some rare spontaneous
events or when the host cell its exposed to UV light
or some chemicals, the phage DNA separates from
the bacterial genetic material, leading to the
initiation to the lytic cycle.

(affect the whole plant). The leaves generally

exhibit characteristic symptoms. The usual
symptoms of viral disease) chlorosis (e.g peach
yellowing disease) are mosaic (e.g, tobacco mosaic
disease), vein clearing (e.g. bhendi vein clearing)
malformaiton (e.g. swollen shoot of cocoa) and
breaking of flowers (e.g. tulip mosaic break) etc.

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2.6 Viral diseases in Humans

Which of the two - lytic or lysogenic -cycles

facilitates the phenomenon of transduction?
2.5 Viral Diseases in Plants
Viruses, being obligate parasites, cause many plant
diseases while growing inside them. Plant diseases
caused by viruses are mostly systemic in nature
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Usually virions are infectious and cause

diseases. A virion is a completely assembled virus
outside its host cell. Unusually a tiny fragment of
nucleic acid with 300-400 nucleotides and without
a protein coat, called viroid, can cause plant diseases
on a variety of economically important plants (e.g
tomatos, potatos , cucumbers , citrus)

Viruses cause widespread diseases in humans

such as common cold, hepatitis, chickenpox,
influenza herpes, warts, polio etc. Although most
viral infections do not result in death, some such as
Rabies, AIDS and Ebola have high mortality rate,
others such as polio and neonatal rubella can lead
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Viruses

Table 2.6.1 Differences between Lysogenic phase and Lytic phase

Lysogenic phase

Lytic phase

The viral genome or its complementary DNA

gets integrated with the host DNA. It is called
prophage or provirus

The viral genome does not integrate with host

DNA.

The host DNA is not hydrolysed during lysogenic The host DNA is often hydrolysed in the lytic
phase
phase.

The prophage or provirus replicates only once

The viral genome replicates repeatedly and forms a
along with the replication of host genome so that number of copies in the same host cell.
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a single particle is transferred to a daughter cell.ME

The cellular machinery of the host is only slightly

distrubed.

The cellular machinery of the host is completely

taken over by the viral genome

The virus is non virulent or temperate

The virus is virulent

The host cell does not get lysed

The host cell undergoes lysis

Virus particles are liberated only rarely.

A number of virus particules are liberated when the

host cell becomes lysed

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to long term debility (physical weakness)

Do your know, some viruses such as Epstein-Barr
virus and Human Papilloma virus cause cancers in
animals and humans!.
Chronic hepatitis B (casued by Hepatitis B virus)
may lead to cancer. Such cancer casuing viruses
are called Oncoviruses. Not only viruses, but also
"proteinaceous infectious particles" called
prions, cause some serious animal diseases such
as mad cow disease (Bovine Spongiform
Encephalitis) in cows and scrapie disease in sheep.
The 'mad cow diseases such as mad cow diseases
(Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis) in cows and
scrapie diseases in sheep. The 'mad cow disease'
causing prion may reach man through beef and cause
'Creutzfeldt -Jakob diseases in him.

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