Help please:)

Anyusername

Hi guys,

Just wondering if I could ask someone to answers for me. I know they are prob staring me in the face.

'Viruses have no ribosomes, but have got protein walls.'

A) Why is this statement an apparent contradiction?
Explain how it can be true?


' We give ourselves the flu' Explain why this statement can be considered to be true.?


This one will make me look utterly stupid but anyway.
The protein coat surrounding a virus is made by:
The hosts DNA
The hosts ribosomes
Viral DNA or
Viral RNA


Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

stinkle

hmm, if they don't have ribosomes then they can't make their own protein coat I guess (cos ribosomes are needed for translation of proteins). But since viruses are known to hijack host cells and use their cellular machinery, they can use the cell/s ribosomes to produce viral proteins.

I think this also explains why "we give ourselves the flu". Viruses can do feck all on their own, they are parasites and need to be in a host to replicate. So yeah the flu virus uses "your" cells to multiply and can then infect other cells...propagating the response.

Protein coat is made by host ribosomes. It's encoded by viral DNA or RNA, but physically made by ribsomes.

Hope it's ok to answer those. I'm not 100% sure if I'm right

Sycopat

A virus can't reproduce on it's own. The specifics might differ between specific strains, but in general:

A virus infects a host cell by injecting it's DNA into the host.

This DNA then integrates with the host DNA, causing the host cell to produce more viruses. (So the viruses are produced by the host cells machinery, working to the viral template.)

Eventually the host cell dies releasing the new viruses. These viruses infect more cells, cycle starts over.

So
A: Ribosomes are needed to translate RNA into a protein, viruses have proteins but no ribosomes, hence it is an apparent contradiction.
B: Viruses use host cell ribosomes and so don't need their own.

'We give ourselves the flu'
As a result of the viral lifecycle, most of the viruses in a person will be manufactured inside that person.

I don't find that a satisfactory answer though, it's more likely they are looking for an explanation of the immune response, as most symptoms of disease are caused not by the antigen, but by our immune system reacting to the presence of the antigen.

Hope that helps.

Anyusername

Thanks so so much for those answers. Really appreciate it.:)

doctoremma

Anyusername wrote: »

'Viruses have no ribosomes, but have got protein walls.'

A) Why is this statement an apparent contradiction?
Explain how it can be true?

You need a ribosome to make a protein.
Viruses hijack the host cell translational machinery to make proteins for new viral particles.

Anyusername wrote: »

We give ourselves the flu' Explain why this statement can be considered to be true.?

The symptoms you get when you have the flu arise from your own immune response to invading foreign DNA/RNA. The virus itself does not make your nose run or your glands swell.

Anyusername wrote: »

This one will make me look utterly stupid but anyway.
The protein coat surrounding a virus is made by:
The hosts DNA
The hosts ribosomes
Viral DNA or
Viral RNA

The host's ribosomes.