MSEGS 210 - Advanced Topics in Biological Science

Latest Trends And Issues In Biology

 Threats From Viruses

o Coronaviruses

What are VIRUSES?

 A virus is a small parasite that cannot reproduce by itself. Once it infects a susceptible cell, however,
a virus can direct the cell machinery to produce more viruses. Most viruses have either RNA or DNA
as their genetic material.
What makes Virus infectious?
 The entire infectious virus particle, called a virion, consists of the nucleic acid and an outer shell of
protein. The simplest viruses contain only enough RNA or DNA to encode four proteins. The most
complex can encode 100 – 200 proteins.
 The nucleic acid of a virion is enclosed within a protein coat, or capsid, composed of multiple copies
of one protein or a few different proteins, each of which is encoded by a single viral gene. Because of
this structure, a virus is able to encode all the information for making a relatively large capsid in a
small number of genes.
What is RNA VIRUS?
 RNA Virus is a virus that has RNA (ribonucleic acid) as its genetic material. This nucleic acid is usually
single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) but may be double stranded RNA (dsRNA).
What are CORONA VIRUSES (CoV)?
 Coronaviruses are large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more
severe diseases such as MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV. (World Health Organization)
 Coronaviruses are zoonotic. ( transmitted from animals to human)
 Coronaviruses are enveloped, single stranded RNA viruses, which means that their genome consists
of a strand of RNA (rather than DNA) and that each viral particle is wrapped in a protein “envelope.”
 Coronaviruses have the longest genomes of any RNA virus--- consisting of 30,000 letters or bases.
 Mutation rates of RNA viruses are greater than DNA viruses, suggesting a more efficient adaptation
process for survival. The genome codes for at least four main structural proteins:
spike (S), membrane (M), envelope (E), nucleocapsid (N) proteins
and other accessory proteins which aid the replicative processes and facilitate entry into cells
  CoVs mainly affect birds and mammals. Prior to 2019, there were only six CoVs that can infect human and
cause respiratory diseases: HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63, HKU1, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV. The last 2
are capable of causing severe respiratory syndrome in humans.

How the coronavirus infects?

 Once inside the cytoplasm, the endosome opens to reveal the virus’ genetic material, a single stranded
RNA.
 The virus hijacks the cells machinery to replicate the RNA and N proteins and uses the endoplasmic
reticulum to form its M protein outer layer, and the all important S protein.
 After replication , the virus is carried by the golgi bodies out of the cell in a process known as exocytosis,
so that it can infect other cells.

The Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

On the 31st of December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was alerted by Chinese authorities of a
series of pneumonia-like cases in the city of Wuhan, a city with the size of London with about 11 million people. It
was quickly identified that the first human infections likely originated from Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan.

Two weeks later, a group of Chinese scientists, along with WHO announced that a new coronavirus (2019-
nCoV), identified through genomic sequencing, was the culprit of the pneumonia. Symptoms of infection included
fever, malaise, dry cough, shortness of breath and respiratory distress.

https://www.nature.com/articles/

 Researchers have 2 main theories about the evolution of virus if the NCoV is a result of Natural
Evolution:
1. Evolved through natural selection in animals then jumped to humans.
2. Jumped from animals, and adapted in human-to-human phase enough to allow outbreaks

Presented by: Love Grace Davin