Does DNA replication occur in viruses?

DNA viruses need only to generate mRNA and thus replication involves strategies that are familiar in cell biology: transcription of mRNA from dsDNA and replication of dsDNA within the cell nucleus. Many use host enzymes for these processes, while some larger viruses code for their own enzymes.

How do viruses grow and develop?

Living things grow. They use energy and nutrients to become larger in size or more complex. Viruses manipulate host cells into building new viruses which means each virion is created in its fully-formed state, and will neither increase in size nor in complexity throughout its existence. Viruses do not grow.

How do viruses affect DNA replication?

Viruses have evolved numerous strategies to navigate the cellular DNA damage response. By hijacking and manipulating cellular replication and repair processes, DNAviruses can selectivelyharness or abrogate distinct components of the cellular machinery to complete their life cycles.

What are defective viruses?

n. A virus particle that contains insufficient nucleic acid to provide for production of all essential viral components, thus infection is not produced except under certain conditions.

Where do viruses replicate in the cell?

Replication occurs in cytoplasm. These viruses have evolved (or acquired from their hosts) all the necessary factors for transcription and replication of their genomes and are therefore largely independent of the cellular apparatus for DNA replication and transcription.

How do viruses replicate within a host cell?

Viruses cannot replicate on their own, but rather depend on their host cell’s protein synthesis pathways to reproduce. This typically occurs by the virus inserting its genetic material in host cells, co-opting the proteins to create viral replicates, until the cell bursts from the high volume of new viral particles.

How do viruses reproduce themselves?

A virus is a microscopic particle that can infect the cells of a biological organism. Viruses can only replicate themselves by infecting a host cell and therefore cannot reproduce on their own.

Do viruses damage DNA?

Numerous viruses introduce DNA damage and genetic instability in host cells during their lifecycles and some species also manipulate components of the DNA damage response (DDR), a complex and sophisticated series of cellular pathways that have evolved to detect and repair DNA lesions.

Can defective virus replicate?

The particles are considered interfering when they affect the function of the parent virus through competitive inhibition during coinfection. In other words, defective and non-defective viruses replicate simultaneously, but when defective particles increase, the amount of replicated non-defective virus is decreased.

What is defective interfering virus?

Defective interfering (DI) RNAs are highly deleted forms of the infectious genome that are made by most families of RNA viruses. DI RNAs retain replication and packaging signals, are synthesized preferentially over infectious genomes, and are packaged as DI virus particles which can be transmitted to susceptible cells.