Article Summary
This article, “Are Viruses Alive? New Evidence Says Yes” by Grennan Milliken states that scientists have discovered new evidence that is interpreted to suggest that viruses are indeed alive and might have been related to archaic cells. The article introduces the two sides on the ongoing debate on whether viruses are alive is outlined with a short description of what viruses are. Viruses are known to mutate fast. It changes its genes which affects the virus’ form and its identity. Viruses do this in multiple ways to continually expand its population and its diversity. Going in the direction of analyzing the genetic history of viruses would consume too much time and would spend too many expenses. Instead of doing that, a pair …show more content…
Proteins do most of the cellular work in your body and are required for the structure, function and regulation of cells in our bodies. They consist of a long chain of amino acids which are small, organic molecules that act like the building blocks for proteins. There are 20 different kinds of amino acids, which can form different combinations and allow for a variety of sequences. Each sequence provides different protein with distinct and specific functions.
Now, proteins aren’t just going stretch out its long chains. Proteins fold to be more space efficient and energy efficient. The shape of the protein is dependent on how the amino acids are arranged and that overall shape of the protein defines its function. Proteins are strategically folded so that they will be in a compact arrangement to maximize surface area for chemical reactions and remain in a stable conformation for the amino acids to interact in an effective manner. For example, if the protein’s function is to break down glucose and convert it into energy for cellular activities, the protein would have to recognize the shape of glucose, bind to it, and release the …show more content…
This disease was previously thought to be caused by pathogenic bacteria. Adolph Meyer demonstrated in 1886, that this disease could transfer from an unhealthy plant to an healthy plant in the form of liquid plant extract. But in 1892, Dmitri Ivanovski used a ceramic filter that could remove bacteria from the extract and saw that the disease transfer from one plant to another was still possible. That’s when they realized that it wasn’t the bacteria, but rather these other infectious entities that were causing the disease. Those other infectious entities were later named viruses and that’s how scientists have started to explore and discover this new population.
Viral Evolution
Viruses have the ability to constantly change and increase their variety. They have high mutation rates, short replication times and release large amounts of copies per a cell infected. With the addition to the numerous processes used for altering its form, it becomes difficult to follow its evolutionary history.
A few examples of of the processes they use to change themselves are recombination, reassortment, and gene amplification. Recombination occurs when viral genes of itself recombine or when a viral genome recombines to obtain the sequence from another virus or organism. Reassortment occurs when two viruses that infect the same cell exchange their
This article, “Are Viruses Alive? New Evidence Says Yes” by Grennan Milliken states that scientists have discovered new evidence that is interpreted to suggest that viruses are indeed alive and might have been related to archaic cells. The article introduces the two sides on the ongoing debate on whether viruses are alive is outlined with a short description of what viruses are. Viruses are known to mutate fast. It changes its genes which affects the virus’ form and its identity. Viruses do this in multiple ways to continually expand its population and its diversity. Going in the direction of analyzing the genetic history of viruses would consume too much time and would spend too many expenses. Instead of doing that, a pair …show more content…
Proteins do most of the cellular work in your body and are required for the structure, function and regulation of cells in our bodies. They consist of a long chain of amino acids which are small, organic molecules that act like the building blocks for proteins. There are 20 different kinds of amino acids, which can form different combinations and allow for a variety of sequences. Each sequence provides different protein with distinct and specific functions.
Now, proteins aren’t just going stretch out its long chains. Proteins fold to be more space efficient and energy efficient. The shape of the protein is dependent on how the amino acids are arranged and that overall shape of the protein defines its function. Proteins are strategically folded so that they will be in a compact arrangement to maximize surface area for chemical reactions and remain in a stable conformation for the amino acids to interact in an effective manner. For example, if the protein’s function is to break down glucose and convert it into energy for cellular activities, the protein would have to recognize the shape of glucose, bind to it, and release the …show more content…
This disease was previously thought to be caused by pathogenic bacteria. Adolph Meyer demonstrated in 1886, that this disease could transfer from an unhealthy plant to an healthy plant in the form of liquid plant extract. But in 1892, Dmitri Ivanovski used a ceramic filter that could remove bacteria from the extract and saw that the disease transfer from one plant to another was still possible. That’s when they realized that it wasn’t the bacteria, but rather these other infectious entities that were causing the disease. Those other infectious entities were later named viruses and that’s how scientists have started to explore and discover this new population.
Viral Evolution
Viruses have the ability to constantly change and increase their variety. They have high mutation rates, short replication times and release large amounts of copies per a cell infected. With the addition to the numerous processes used for altering its form, it becomes difficult to follow its evolutionary history.
A few examples of of the processes they use to change themselves are recombination, reassortment, and gene amplification. Recombination occurs when viral genes of itself recombine or when a viral genome recombines to obtain the sequence from another virus or organism. Reassortment occurs when two viruses that infect the same cell exchange their