Philip D Minor, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Potters Bar, UK
Published online: December 2007
DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000441.pub2
Viruses are microbial parasites which make the infected host manufacture more virus. They do this purely by inserting information diverting the host system to their own ends, in ways which are both subtle and profound.
Keywords: general fearures; constitution; replication; host interactions
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Figure 1. Nonenveloped viruses. In order of increasing size: (a) Poliovirus – causes paralysis, 27 nm in diameter; (b) Human papilloma virus – causes warts, 40 nm in diameter and (c) Adenovirus – causes colds or diarrhoea, 80–110 nm. Scale bar=100 nm.
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Figure 2. Enveloped viruses. In order of increasing size: (a) Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes AIDS, 100 nm in diameter; (b) Influenza virus, 100 nm in diameter; (c) Measles virus, 150 nm in diameter; (d) Rabies virus, 160 nm long, bullet shaped and (e) Herpes virus, 200 nm long, complex internal structure. Scale bar=100 nm.
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Figure 3. Diagrammatic representation of (a) a nonenveloped (icosahedral) virus and (b) an enveloped virus.
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Figure 4. The virus life cycle.
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| Further Reading | |
| Baltimore D (1971) Expression of animal virus genomes. Bacteriological Reviews 35: 235–241. | |
| book Fields BN, Knipe DM and Chanock RM et al. (eds) (1990) Virology, 2nd edn, vols I and II. New York: Raven Press. | |
| Goldbach R (1987) Genome similarities between plant and animal RNA viruses. Microbiological Sciences 4: 197–202. | |
| Murphy FA, Fauquet CM, Bishop DHL et al. (1995) Virus taxonomy sixth report of the international committee on taxonomy of viruses. Archives of Virology 10(suppl.). | |
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