Retrovirus life cycle: integration into host DNA, reverse transcriptase, HIV
Retroviruses, like HIV, have single-stranded RNA and contain reverse transcriptase to convert it to double-stranded…
AAMC Outline
Density
The density of an object represents its “compactness”, or mass per given volume of a…
Generalized phage and animal virus life cycles
For a typical virus, the lifecycle can be divided into five broad steps: attachment, entry,…
Size relative to bacteria and eukaryotic cells
A virus is about ten times smaller than a typical bacteria cell, and at least…
Genomic content — RNA or DNA
The genomic content of viruses can be made of RNA or DNA and can be…
Structural aspects of typical bacteriophage
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and generally have three main components (head, tail, tail…
Lack organelles and nucleus
Viruses do not have organelles or a nucleus. Viruses are genes wrapped in a protein…
Self-replicating biological units that must reproduce within specific host cell
Viruses must infect a host cell to hijack their reproductive machinery to replicate; they cannot…
General structural characteristics (nucleic acid and protein, enveloped and nonenveloped)
A virus is a protein shell carrying genetic material that infects a host cell to…
Vectors, Components
Vectors are geometric representations of magnitude and direction and can be expressed as arrows in…