[Biology 1001A] - Final Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (46 pages long!)
1 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Viruses cannot reproduce by themselves, they need a host cell. Viruses are not cellular and do not have cell membranes. Hypothesis 1: a unicellular ancestor lost its independent metabolism and became simplified. Hypothesis 2: mobile genetic element gained the ability to enter and exit cells. Jumped species barrier from a chimpanzee to a human host. Originally found in non-human animals and mutated to affect humans (zoonotic disease). Someone butchered a chimp, ate it and acquired the virus. Generally have worse side effects than antibacterials, antifungals, etc. This is because the virus has very little features of its own so the drug must attack the host cell. Good news and bad news about retroviruses (like hiv) Central dogma of molecular bio: dna replication transcription into mrna translation into proteins. In hiv, reverse transcriptase enzyme performs reverse transcription to make mrna into dna without proof reading. Create more viral dna within the host cell.
