Let's Learn About Viruses!

Part One:

1. A virus particle in biology is known as a virion. Viruses vary in different shapes and sizes but are usually smaller than bacteria measuring at about 15 to 25 nanometers in diameter. Generally, the structure of a virus consists of nucleic acid and genetic material enclosed within a protein shell or membrane.

Here is a diagram of the structure of a virus.

2. The genetic material within the virus is called the viral genome. The viral genome can consist of a small number of genes to hundreds of genes all organized as a long molecule. The virus may have double stranded DNA or double stranded RNA, or it may have single stranded DNA or single stranded RNA. Whether it be either or, the contents of the viral genome depend primarily on the nature and function of the virus itself.

3. THIS IS A FUNKY DIAGRAM OF A BACTERIOPHAGE. 

It kinda looks like an alien spaceship...
(a bacteriophage is a type if virus that parasites a bacterium and uses it as a host to reproduce)

4. Plant Viruses: 
- can cause various diseases that often result in plant death
- symptoms found in affected plants include ring-spots, mosaic pattern development, leaf yellowing, distortion, and deformed growth
- the name of the plant virus is based on the symptoms that the virus causes
-EXAMPLES

Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Papaya Leaf Curl Virus

Animal Viruses
- affect humans
- rely on the host cells for reproduction
- enter the body through gastrointestinal and respiratory tract
- spread via " "
- EXAMPLES

The Common Cold Virus

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)