Do viruses carry out all life processes11/8/2023 ![]() ![]() Inhibiting some of the host cell's functions can potentially make viruses vulnerable. Viruses need to be able to use the functions of host cells to replicate themselves. Knowing the viral sequence allows researchers to detect whether a virus is present in a host organism, and it provides clues for how a virus attacks and infects the host cell. It is important to generate the complete genome sequence of viruses for several public health reasons. For example, as of September 2021, there were 11,465 viral genome sequences available. In 1977, researchers sequenced the first viral genome - phi X174, a virus that attacks bacteria.īut much progress has been made since then. Genomics is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on studying an organism's entire nucleic acid material (such as DNA or RNA), which is known as its genome. That is why scientists must tailor vaccines to specific strains of viruses. These new strains usually acquire changes in their nucleic acid that make the viruses work differently in the host organism, such as by changing the viral protein coat slightly. Then, they produce an influenza vaccine that works against the new strains. The lengthier the infection, the longer the virus has to adapt and spread to other hosts.įlu viruses can do both - mutate at a high rate and mix with other viruses.Įach year, scientists measure and predict which versions of the influenza virus, or strains, will be prevalent around the world during the next flu season. Some viruses vastly benefit from staying inside their hosts for an extended period of time without being deadly. In other cases, two different viruses interested in attacking the same host cell can swap regions of their nucleic acid and make a hybrid virus. These mutations allow the viruses to be diverse in their genetic makeup, increasing the probability and pace by which they evade the human immune system. Viruses that encode information with RNA rather than DNA tend to have a higher rate of mutations. ![]() There are a few major ways by which certain viruses can cause disease. ![]()
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