decaturjim: The Diversity of Viruses Of all the infectious agents, viruses are the most unique and the above image gives a great outline of their diversity.  Responsible for many of the most common and serious human diseases, they remarkably remain metabolically inert and lack the ability to replicate on their own. Structurally, viruses primarily consist of genetic material in the form of DNA or RNA which is protected by a highly ordered cage of proteins, known as the capsid. Some viruses also contain an additional outer envelope or membrane consisting of lipids, or glycoproteins. The outer surface of the virus enables it to make contact with the outer membrane of a host cell and facilitates its uptake into the cytoplasm.  Once there, the virus hijacks the host cell’s machinery enable its replication and the production of viral proteins.  Newly replicated viruses are then either released via rupture of the host cell, or the viral genetic material is incorporated into and replicated with the host cell’s genome. View high resolution

decaturjim:

The Diversity of Viruses

Of all the infectious agents, viruses are the most unique and the above image gives a great outline of their diversity.  Responsible for many of the most common and serious human diseases, they remarkably remain metabolically inert and lack the ability to replicate on their own.

Structurally, viruses primarily consist of genetic material in the form of DNA or RNA which is protected by a highly ordered cage of proteins, known as the capsid. Some viruses also contain an additional outer envelope or membrane consisting of lipids, or glycoproteins.

The outer surface of the virus enables it to make contact with the outer membrane of a host cell and facilitates its uptake into the cytoplasm.  Once there, the virus hijacks the host cell’s machinery enable its replication and the production of viral proteins.  Newly replicated viruses are then either released via rupture of the host cell, or the viral genetic material is incorporated into and replicated with the host cell’s genome.

(Reblogged from s-cientia)

Notes

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  17. glampersand reblogged this from s-cientia and added:
    retroviruses are the best and the creepiest of them all!!! not gonna lie, i have some elaborate biologist headcanons...
  18. tigersinlondon reblogged this from s-cientia and added:
    Mm not always into the cytoplasm - that’s really only RNA viruses. DNA viruses, the smaller ones at least, have to head...
  19. daydreamingisdangerous reblogged this from decaturjim
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  23. magnoliagordo815 reblogged this from rotiferola and added:
    If they only would look like this… always. Just spent 4h at the TEM to look at some viruses…. those little buggers are...
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