MIKROBIOLOGI FARMASI Anggun Hari Kusumawati

“VIRUS” M.Si.,Apt
 INTRODUCTION
- Viruses do not have a cellular structure. They are particles composed of
nucleic acid surrounded by protein; some possess a lipid envelope and
associated glycoproteins, but recognizable chromosomes, cytoplasm and cell
membranes are invariably absent.
- Viruses are incapable of independent replication as they do not contain the
enzymes necessary to copy their own nucleic acids; as a consequence, all viruses
are intracellular parasites and are reproduced using the metabolic capabilities
of the host cell.
- A great deal of variation is observed in shape (helical, linear or spherical),
size (20–400 nm) and nucleic acid composition (single- or double stranded,
linear or circular RNA or DNA), but almost all viruses are smaller than bacteria
and they cannot be seen with a normal light microscope; instead they may be
viewed using an electron microscope which affords much greater magnification.
- Viroids (virusoids) are even simpler than viruses, being infectious particles
comprising single-stranded RNA without any associated protein. Those that have
been described are plant pathogens, and, so far, there are no known human
pathogens in this category. Prions are unique as infectious agents in that they
contain no nucleic acid.
- A prion is an atypical form of a mammalian protein that can interact with a
normal protein molecule and cause it to undergo a conformational change so that
it, in turn, becomes a prion and ceases its normal function.
- Prions are unique as infectious agents in that they contain no nucleic acid. A prion
is an atypical form of a mammalian protein that can interact with a normal
protein molecule and cause it to undergo a conformational change so that it, in
turn, becomes a prion and ceases its normal function.
 GENERAL PROPERTIES OF VIRUSES
Size
• Whereas a bacterial cell like
a staphylococcus might be
1000 nm in diameter, the
largest of the human
pathogenic viruses, the
poxviruses, measure only 250
nm along their longest axis,
and the smallest, the
poliovirus, is only 28 nm in
diameter.
Nucleic acid content
• Viruses contain only a single
type of nucleic acid, either
DNA or RNA.
Metabolic capabilities
• Virus particles have no
metabolic machinery of their
own.
• They are obligatory
intracellular parasites,only
growing within other living
cells whose energy and
protein-producing systems
they redirect for the purpose
of manufacturing new viral
components.
• The production of new virus
particles generally results in
death of the host cell and as
the particles spread from cell
to cell (e.g. within a tissue),
disease can become
apparent in the host.
STRUCTURE OF VIRUSES
In essence, virus particles are composed of a core of
genetic material, either DNA or RNA, surrounded by a
coat of protein.

The viral protein coat, or capsid, is composed of a large

number of subunits, the capsomeres. This subunit structure
is a fundamental property and is important from a
number of aspects.

In addition to the protein coat, many animal virus

particles are surrounded by a lipoprotein envelope
which has generally been derived from the cytoplasmic
membrane of their last host cell.
 HELICAL SYMMETRYA
Some virus particles have their protein subunits symmetrically packed
in a helical array, forming hollow cylinders.

The tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is the classic example.

The nucleic acid does not lie in this hole, but is embedded into ridges
on the inside of each subunit and describes its own helix from one end
of the particle to the other.

The influenza and mumps viruses, for example, which were first seen in
early electron micrographs as roughly spherical particles, Helical
symmetry was thought at one time to exist only in plant viruses. It is
now known, however, to occur in a number of animal virus particles.
ICOSAHEDRAL SYMMETRY
The viruses in this architectural group have their
capsomeres arranged in the form of regular
icosahedra,i.e. polygons having 12 vertices, 20
faces and 30 sides.

At each of the 12 vertices or corners of these

icosahedral particles is a capsomere, called a
penton, which is surrounded by five
neighbouring units.

Each of the 20 triangular faces contains an

identical number of capsomeres which are
surrounded by six neighbours and called
hexons.
THE EFFECT OF CHEMICAL AND PHYSICALAGENTS ON VIRUSES
Viruses generally exhibit greater sensitivity to chemical agents
(biocides) than that shown by spore-forming organisms, but they
may be more resistant than many species of bacteria, fungi and
protozoa that do not form spores or cysts.

Viruses can be divided into two major groups depending upon

their sensitivity to biocides: the enveloped and the non-
enveloped (naked) viruses.

Enveloped viruses are generally large, and the presence of the

lipid-containing envelope derived from the host cell enhances
their susceptibility to chemical agents.

Among naked viruses, the small ones such as picornaviruses (e.g.

poliovirus) are among the most resistant to disinfection.
VIRUS–HOST CELL INTERACTIONS
Multiplication of the virus and destruction of the host
cell.

2 Elimination of the virus from the cell and the infection

aborted without a recognizable effect on the cells
occurring.

3 Survival of the infected cell unchanged, except that it

now carries the virus in a latent state.

4 Survival of the infected cell in a dramatically altered

or transformed state, e.g. transformation of a normal
cell to one having the properties of a cancerous cell.
 BACTERIOPHAGES
Bacteriophages, or as they are more simply termed, phages,
are viruses that have bacteria as their host cells.

The name was first given by D’Herelle to an agent which he

found could produce lysis of the dysentery bacillus Shigella
shiga.

D’Herelle was convinced that he had stumbled across an agent

with tremendous medical potential.

It was a great disappointment, however, that phages so

virulent in their antibacterial activity in vitro proved impotent in
vivo.
BACTERIOPHAGES
 THE LYTIC GROWTH CYCLE
The replication of virulent These phages adsorb, by
phage was initially studied their long tail fibres, on to
using the T-even-numbered specific receptors on the
(T2, T4, and T6) phages of surface of the bacterial
E. coli. cell wall.
On incubation, the phage
particles will infect
bacteria in their immediate
neighbourhood, lysing
them and producing a
burst of progeny viruses.

These particles then infect As each of these plaques

bacteria in the vicinity,
producing a second
generation of progeny
and this sequence is
repeated many times.
is initiated by a single
phage particle, they
provide a means for
titrating phage
preparations.
 LYSOGENY

When a temperate phage is mixed with sensitive indicator bacteria and plated as described
above, the reaction at each focus of infection is generally a combination of lytic and lysogenic
responses.

Some bacteria will be lysed and produce phage, others will survive as lysogenic cells, and the
plaque becomes visible as a partial area of clearing in the bacterial lawn.

It is possible to pick off cells from the central areas of these plaques and demonstrate that they
carry prophage.
Integration of the prophage into the bacterial chromosome ensures that, on cell division,
each daughter cell will acquire the set of viral genes.

In a normally growing culture of lysogenic bacteria, the majority of bacteria manage to

keep their prophages in a dormant state.

Exposure of lysogenic cultures to certain chemical and physical agents, e.g. hydrogen
peroxide, mitomycin C and ultraviolet light, results in mass lysis and the production of high
titres of phage. This process is called induction.

When a lysogenic cell is infected by the same type of phage as it carries as prophage,
the infection is aborted, the activity of the invading viral genes being repressed by the
same mechanism that normally keeps the prophage in a dormant state.

Lysogeny is generally a very stable state, but occasionally a cell will lose its prophage
and these ‘cured’ cells are once more susceptible to infection by that particular phage
type
 EPIDEMIOLOGICAL USES
Different strains of a number of bacterial species can be distinguished by their sensitivity to a
collection of phages.

Bacteria which can be typed in this way include Staph. aureus and Salmonella typhi.

The particular strain of, say, Staph. aureus responsible for an outbreak of infection is
characterized by the pattern of its sensitivity to a standard set of phages and then possible
sources of infection are examined for the presence of that same phage type of Staph. aureus.

More recently, the fact that many of the chemical agents which cause the induction of prophage
are carcinogenic has led to the use of lysogenic bacteria in screening tests for detecting potential
carcinogens.
 HUMAN VIRUSES
Viruses are, of course, important and common causes of disease in humans,
particularly in children.

Fortunately, most infections are not serious and, like the rhinovirus infections
responsible for the common cold syndrome, are followed by the complete recovery
of the patient.

Many viral infections are in fact so mild that they are termed ‘silent’, to indicate
that the virus replicates in the body without producing symptoms of disease.

On rare occasions enteroviruses like poliovirus can progress to the central nervous
system where they may produce an aseptic meningitis or paralysis.

There are a few virus diseases, such as rabies, which are invariably severe and
have very high mortality rates.
CULTIVATION OF HUMAN VIRUSES
The cultivation of viruses from material taken from
lesions is an important step in the diagnosis of many
viral diseases.

Studies of the basic biology and multiplication

processes of human viruses also require that they
are grown in the laboratory under experimental
conditions.

Human pathogenic viruses can be propagated in

three types of cell systems.
 PRIONS
- The causative agents of the neurodegenerative diseases bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE), scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) in humans
used to be referred to as slow viruses.
- However, it is now clear that they are caused by a distinct class of infectious agents termed
prions that have unique and disturbing properties.
- They can be recovered from the brains of infected individuals as rod-like structures which
are oligomers of a 30-kDa glycoprotein.
- They are devoid of nucleic acid and are extremely resistant to heating and ultraviolet
irradiation.
- They also fail to produce an immune response in the host.