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VIRUSES
•
A virus
is a small particle that infects cells in biological organisms.
•
Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites; they can reproduce onlyby invading and taking over other cells as they lack the cellularmachinery for self reproduction.
•
Viruses
are a unique group of infectious agents whose distinctivenessresides in their simple, acellular organization and pattern of reproduction.
•
A complete virus particle or
virion
consists of one or more moleculesof DNA or RNA enclosed in a coat of protein, and sometimes also inother layers.
•
 These additional layers may be very complex and containcarbohydrates, lipids, and additional proteins. Viruses can exist intwo phases: extracellular and intracellular.
•
Virions, the extracellular phase, possess few if any enzymes andcannot reproduce independent of living cells.
•
In the intracellular phase, viruses exist primarily as replicatingnucleic acids that induce host metabolism to synthesize virioncomponents; eventually complete virus particles or virions arereleased.
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Viruses differ from living cells in at least three ways :
o
 Their simple, acellular organization.
o
 The presence of either DNA or RNA, but not both, in almost allvirions (human cytomegalovirus has a DNA genome and fourmRNAs)
o
 Their inability to reproduce independent of cells and carry outcell division as prokaryotes and eukaryotes do.
BACTERIOPHAGE
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A phage (also called bacteriophage) (in Greek phageton =food/consumption) is a small virus that infects only bacteria.
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Bacteriophage (phage) are obligate intracellular parasites thatmultiply inside bacteria by making use of some or all of the hostbiosynthetic machinery (i.e., viruses that infect bacteria.).
•
 There are many similarities between bacteriophages and animal cellviruses.
•
 Thus, bacteriophage can be viewed as model systems for animal cellviruses.
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In addition a knowledge of the life cycle of bacteriophage is necessaryto understand one of the mechanisms by which bacterial genes can betransferred from one bacterium to another.
 
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At one time it was thought that the use of bacteriophage might be aneffective way to treat bacterial infections, but it soon became apparentthat phage are quickly removed from the body and thus, were of littleclinical value.
•
However, bacteriophage are used in the diagnostic laboratory for theidentification of pathogenic bacteria (phage typing).
•
Although phage typing is not used in the routine clinical laboratory, itis used in reference laboratories for epidemiological purposes.
•
Recently, new interest has developed in the possible use of bacteriophage for treatment of bacterial infections and in prophylaxis.
•
Whether bacteriophage will be used in clinical medicine remains to bedetermined. 
COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF BACTERIOPHAGE
•
Although different bacteriophages may contain different materialsthey
all
contain nucleic acid and protein.
•
Depending upon the phage, the nucleic acid can be either DNA orRNA but not both and it can exist in various forms.
•
 The nucleic acids of phages often contain unusual or modified bases.
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 These modified bases protect phage nucleic acid from nucleases thatbreak down host nucleic acids during phage infection.
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 The size of the nucleic acid varies depending upon the phage.
•
 The simplest phages only have enough nucleic acid to code for 3-5average size gene products while the more complex phages may codefor over 100 gene products.
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 The number of different kinds of protein and the amount of each kindof protein in the phage particle will vary depending upon the phage.
•
 The simplest phage have many copies of only one or two differentproteins while more complex phages may have many different kinds.
•
 The proteins function in infection and to protect the nucleic acid fromnucleases in the environment .
Structure
•
Bacteriophage comes in many different sizes and shapes.
•
 The basic structural features of bacteriophages, taking the T4 phageas an example are illustrated as follows:
•
Size
- T4 is among the largest phages; it is approximately 200 nmlong and 80-100 nm wide.
•
Other phages are smaller.
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