BIOL 1002 Chapter : Chapter 19
Document Summary
Chapter 19: the diversity of viruses, prokaryotes, and protists. Characteristics of a virus: no cell membrane, no cytoplasm, no ribosome"s- not a living thing, can only reproduce inside a host cell, very small size (. 05-. 2 micrometers) 2 major components constitute a virus: single or double stranded dna or rna, protein coat (may be surrounded by an envelope) Viruses are very host specific: each viral type is specialized to attack specific host cell, bacteria are infected by bacteriophage viruses, bacteriophages are actually a virus that specifically attack bacterial cells. Viruses as biological weapons: difficulty treating viral infections makes viruses devastating weapons, limited smallpox stocks saved to develop future vaccine against unknown stocks, ebola hemorrhagic fever kills 90% of victims (no treatment or vaccine known) Prions: the discovery of kuru, fatal degenerative disease discovered in new guinea tribe (fore) in. 1950: kuru causes loss of coordination, dementia, death, kuru in the fore tribe was transmitted by ritual cannibalism of the dead.
