In: Biology
what are the components of viruses and what is their function?
Structure of virus :-
All viruses are made up of two basic components -
(a) Nucleic acid and (b) Protein.
• Nucleic acid present in viruses may be DNA or RNA. These nucleic acids may be single stranded or double stranded.
• On the basis of nucleic acid, there are two types of viruses - RNA virus and DNA virus.
RNA viruses :-
Virus with RNA nucleic acid.
• Virus with double stranded RNA - Reovirus
• Virus with single stranded RNA - Polio virus, influenza virus,
HIV etc.
• Virus with segmented RNA - Influenza A virus.
DNA viruses :-
Virus with DNA nucleic acid.
• Virus with double stranded DNA - Adenovirus, bacteriophage.
• Virus with single stranded DNA - Parvovirus.
Protein - In viruses, there are two types of proteins -
Structural and Non- structural.
• Structural proteins include capsid, membrane and envelope.
• Capsid is surrounding protein coat of virus.
• Some viruses have additional surrounding lipid bilayer called
envelope.
• Non structural proteins are the proteins which are formed by
viruses in infected cells.