Question

Viruses reproduce by

Select one:

a. cell division

b. assembly

c. binary fission

d. mitosis

Answer 1

B ) Assembly

                      A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity. The study of viruses is known as virology, a subspeciality of microbiology.

                     When infected , a host cell is forced to rapidly produce thousands of identical copies of the original virus. The viral replication/ reproduction is the term used to indicate the formation of biological viruses during the infection process in the target host cells. From the perspective of virus, the purpose of viral replication is to allow reproduction and survival of it's kind.

                    During attachment and penetration , the virus attaches itself to a host cell and injects it's genetic material into it. During uncoating, replication and assembly, the viral DNA or RNA incorporates itself into the host cell's genetic material and includes it to replicate the viral genome.

                               Viral assembly is a key step in the replication cycle by involving transportation of chemically distinct macromolecules through different pathways, to a point within the cell where they are assembled into a nascent viral particle.

              (An example of replication of Influenza virus is given below)