Viruses

Viruses (from Latin virus - poison), the smallest biological objects (usually in size from hundredths to tenths of microns).

How viruses multiply

Viruses are a kind of kingdom of living things that have only the ability to reproduce.

The most important feature of viruses is their inability to reproduce independently, which is due to the lack of mechanisms for their synthesis of proteins and energy production.

Many people remember from school that living organisms were assigned several characteristics: nutrition, growth, reproduction, breathing. But viruses do not have metabolism, that is, they do not feed or breathe, which means they do not grow. Everything that viruses do - attach to the victim cell are embedded in it, integrate their genome into the chromosomes of the cell, and the cell begins to produce proteins that are collected in it into new viruses. In the end, the cell bursts and thousands of viruses come out of it.   It was previously believed that viruses can only multiply in living cells (which is usually the case), and this property was part of their scientific definition. Now the fundamental possibility of reproduction of some viruses in destroyed cells has been proved, but, despite this, it is believed that viruses are obligate (unconditional) intracellular parasites.

Structure of viruses

Viruses are very simple in structure. They consist of two main parts:

• a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) that encodes information about the virus, and
• a protein that protects the nucleic acid from environmental influences.

Viruses are undoubtedly some of the simplest forms of living organisms, but there are also simpler forms of viruses - viroids that do not have a protein envelope, but only RNA nucleic acid. Viroids cause various diseases in plants.

Organisms are even simpler - prions that do not have a nucleic acid, and they consist of one protein, but are also capable of reproduction.

Prions

What does the virus look like before being introduced into the cell: virion

Despite the popular statement that: "there is no life outside the cell," science still managed to isolate the virus separately from the cell and study its structure.

As long as the virus is in the extracellular environment or in the process of infecting the cell, it exists as an independent particle called a virion. Virion is a very simple particle, because it consists of only a certain number of DNA chains (or RNA) and shells. Also in the membranes themselves there are receptors that are responsible for the virus to successfully attach to some cell.

The video below shows cellular tropicity - the ability of cells to allow certain viruses to multiply. It is determined by the complementarity (correspondence) of special cell receptors and virion antireceptors, as well as the possibility of implementing other stages of virus reproduction.

In this case, the 3D model of the virus can be of any shape (ball, stick, etc.).

Viruses

Herpes

Main article: Herpes

Flu

Main article: Influenza

HIV

Main article: HIV and AIDS

Coronaviruses

COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2)

Main article: COVID-19

NeoCoV

In January 2022, scientists from China reported that the NeoCoV coronavirus detected in Africa could potentially pose a danger to humans. Most of the scientists work at the University of Wuhan, the city where the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection were detected at the end of 2019.

NeoCoV has been found in bats in South Africa and is circulating in this population for now. However, scientists note that it has a latent potential to mutate and, as a result, gain the ability to penetrate not only animal cells, but also humans. NeoCoV is a close relative of the coronavirus MERS-CoV, the causative agent of Middle East respiratory syndrome, an outbreak of which was recorded in the 2010s.

Zika virus

Main article: Zika virus

By 2020, the Russian imaging studio in the field of science has built a 3D model of the Zika virus. The studio claims that this is the first scientifically reliable model in atomic resolution.

Varicella Zoster - varicella zoster pathogen

Varicella Zoster is a pathogen. chickenpox

Spaniard

"Wear a mask or go to prison." United States, 1920s.

How great is the risk for humanity to die from the old unexplored virus that woke up as a result of melting ice

The risk is negligible for two reasons.

The first. Suppose this is a virus that humanity has already encountered. Then a certain number of people have left an "immunological memory," which means that they will be able to cope with this problem with a high probability. That is, maybe someone will die, but not all of humanity.

Second. If the virus is so ancient that none of the people have encountered it yet, then the likelihood that the ice virus will "fit" our body is also microscopic. To hit humanity en masse, the virus must adapt properly to our defense mechanisms (this will take millions of years).

Can scientists accidentally create a virus that will destroy all people

Yes. It sounds like a sci-fi "horror" scenario, but over the years, scientists around the world have been creating one deadly virus after another in laboratories. If the virus that kills a person breaks free, then this will be a disaster for all of humanity.

In January 2001, Australian scientists in Canberra experimented with viruses in an attempt to find a way to control mice that ate crops. They created a genetically modified mouse pox virus. However, this "supervirus" turned out to be much more powerful than anyone could have imagined. The virus killed 100% of mice that were not vaccinated. But what happened to mice could easily happen to people.

In 2000, Japanese scientists from Kyoto, experimenting with the AIDS virus and wanting to find out how it is growing, found a way to significantly accelerate its growth.

In 2020 USA , they were accused China of coronavirus COVID-19 breaking free from a laboratory in Wuhan and leading to a pandemic.

Viruses as objects of study in molecular biology

Viruses have played and continue to play an outstanding role as convenient model objects for studying common patterns of molecular biology. 

It was when studying viruses that the most important laws of protein and nucleic acid synthesis and regulation of these processes were deciphered, many concepts of molecular biology and molecular genetics were formulated.

Chronicle

2022

All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics will create a "Data Farm" based on AI to predict the spread of infections

All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics will create a "Data Farm" by the end of 2022 to predict the spread of infections based on data from Sberbank and MTS. This became known on August 18, 2022. Read more here.

ITMO has developed a DNA machine for detecting pathogens

On April 20, 2022, representatives of ITMO University reported that ITMO University scientists, together with scientists from the University of Central Florida, developed a DNA machine for detecting pathogens - viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms dangerous to health. This method, unlike PCR tests, does not require the use of expensive equipment. The development allows testing even at room temperature. With the color signal, the result can be seen with the naked eye. The article is published in the journal Chemical Communications. Read more here.

The procedure for the import and export of pathogens and viruses in Russia has been approved

In early April 2022, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree approving the rules for importing pathogens and viruses into and out of Russia (except for those subject to export control, as well as biomaterials obtained during a clinical study of drugs).

In accordance with the document, which comes into force on July 1, 2022, for biological agents of groups I-IV, the permission of the chief sanitary doctor will be required, for other biological agents, biological material and quarantine facilities - the permission of the Rosselkhoznadzor.

Mishustin approved the procedure for the import and export of pathogens and viruses

According to the document, the import and export of microorganisms and viruses is carried out:

• To conduct fundamental and applied scientific research in the field of biological safety, including the study of their properties, which pose a threat to the emergence and spread of infectious and parasitic diseases;
• To develop and implement means and methods of their indication and identification;
• For the development and implementation of methods, means and technologies for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious and parasitic diseases;
• For the deposit of strains in the collections of pathogenic microorganisms and viruses, including mandatory deposit in the collections of pathogenic microorganisms and viruses of strains used in the production of medicinal products registered in accordance with the established procedure and approved for circulation in Russia for medical and veterinary use, as well as medical products.

In January 2022, Rospotrebnadzor identified a list of potentially dangerous biological objects, as well as developed rules for preventing accidents and sabotage at such objects and rules for localizing and eliminating zones of biological infection arising from accidents or sabotage.^[1]

Notes