Reflection Paper: Introduction to the Principles of Virology Danielle Morency SOCI 241-01 Chapter two of Viruses, Plagues, and History focuses on viruses. Viruses have an incredibly simple design; they are made up of a small amount of genetic material, either DNA or RNA, in a coat of protein molecules. Viruses are obligate parasites, meaning that they depend on the life of others, including plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, to replicate meaning they cannot multiply until they invade a living cell. Some examples of viruses include HIV, yellow fever, smallpox, and ebola. Unique to viruses are their lack of genes, some containing fewer than ten genes and some containing as many as four-hundred. This fact shocked me because
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The initial immune system response to the presence of the virus is the production of antibodies. Antibodies bind to the viruses proteins, also known as antigens, to try to remove them. The Y shape of the antibodies allows them to bind to antigens on cells with the two arm like structures and bind to Fc receptors on certain cells with the bottom part of the Y. This binding forms infectious virus-antibody complexes which enable the virus to now spread to cells with Fc receptors that might not have the specific receptor to the virus itself. Additionally, these virus-antibody complexes can injure the kidneys and blood vessels if they become trapped there. Specialized cytotoxic CB8 T cells recognize peptides of viral proteins, and kill the infected cell before it produces infectious viral particles. Unfortunately, this can destroy cells that are critical to healthy function of the organism. Although this is a potentially harmful trade off, I believe it is justified by the fact that typically when someone recovers completely from the virus, they have lifetime immunity and will not become infected again because their immune system can effectively and quickly fight it off.
Having learned about viruses in previous courses, I found this chapter to be an effective refresher because it triggered many memory cues for information about viruses I previously learned. I was hoping that the chapter would also discuss the various uses of viruses in research, medicine, and even agriculture because these are aspects of viruses that I have not learned about in previous classes. Nevertheless, I understand that the focus of the chapter, and the book as a whole, is to look at these situations from an illness
The initial immune system response to the presence of the virus is the production of antibodies. Antibodies bind to the viruses proteins, also known as antigens, to try to remove them. The Y shape of the antibodies allows them to bind to antigens on cells with the two arm like structures and bind to Fc receptors on certain cells with the bottom part of the Y. This binding forms infectious virus-antibody complexes which enable the virus to now spread to cells with Fc receptors that might not have the specific receptor to the virus itself. Additionally, these virus-antibody complexes can injure the kidneys and blood vessels if they become trapped there. Specialized cytotoxic CB8 T cells recognize peptides of viral proteins, and kill the infected cell before it produces infectious viral particles. Unfortunately, this can destroy cells that are critical to healthy function of the organism. Although this is a potentially harmful trade off, I believe it is justified by the fact that typically when someone recovers completely from the virus, they have lifetime immunity and will not become infected again because their immune system can effectively and quickly fight it off.
Having learned about viruses in previous courses, I found this chapter to be an effective refresher because it triggered many memory cues for information about viruses I previously learned. I was hoping that the chapter would also discuss the various uses of viruses in research, medicine, and even agriculture because these are aspects of viruses that I have not learned about in previous classes. Nevertheless, I understand that the focus of the chapter, and the book as a whole, is to look at these situations from an illness