Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org (Richard DeWald) (07/10/90)
In a message of < 7 Jul 90 12:01:00>, Ken Green (1:221/201) writes:
KG>i am still looking for any information re: the virus protien shell
What is it that you want to know? Generally most all virii are protein
encapsulated. The protein shell attaches to the membrane of the target cell
and generally the nucleic acid portion of the virus is introduced into the
cell. What happens from there is dependent on the particular virus you are
interested in. The HIV RNA (the variety of nucleic acid present here) gets
inserted into a strand of T-cell RNA already operating within the machinery of
the T-lymphocyute cell. The cell then dutifully goes about the business of
making more HIV. This interrupts the normal activity of this cell (which is
the prevention of infectious disease) and eventually kills it.
Think of it this way. If a floppy disk is a virus, then the actual magnetic
media is the nucleic acid chain, the program you have recorded on the disk is
the specific instructions for, in this case, making more floppy disks. The
plastic outer covering that you are allowed to touch is the protein shell.
The floppy disk then (by mechano-chemical means) inserts itself into the middle
of the program being run by the computer. The computer then goes about making
more floppy disks just like the one introduced, plastic covering and all, with
the same software as was stored on the original disk. Not only is the computer
not doing what it is supposed to do, but it is depleting it's resources in such
a way that will cause it to cease to function at all.
The protein shell has been of interest to research because if a way could be
found to rupture it before it attaches to the cell membrane, the virus RNA
would have no way to get into the cells. Just as if floppy disks were
distributed without the plastic coverings, the normal routine handling that
they are submitted to would destroy the integrity of the disk and therefore the
integrity of the data on the disk.
If you want or need more specific information than that, I can get as
techno-scientific as you wish.
Richard DeWald, BSN Student
Univ. of TX - Austin.
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Internet: Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.orgRichard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org (Richard DeWald) (07/11/90)
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In a message of < 7 J
M12:01:00>, Ken Green (1:221/201) writes:
KG>i am still looking for any information re: the virus protien shell
What is it that you want to know? Generally most all virii are protein
encapsulated. The protein shell attaches to the membrane of the target cell
and generally the nucleic acid portion of the virus is introduced into the
cell. What happens from there is dependent on the particular virus you are
interested in. The HIV RNA (the variety of nucleic acid present here) gets
inserted into a strand of T-cell RNA already operating within the machinery of
the T-lymphocyute cell. The cell then dutifully goes about the business of
making more HIV. This interrupts the normal activity of this cell (which is
the prevention of infectious disease) and eventually kills it.
Think of it this way. If a floppy disk is a virus, then the actual magnetic
media is the nucleic acid chain, the program you have recorded on the disk is
the specific instructions for, in this case, making more floppy disks. The
plastic outer covering that you are allowed to touch is the protein shell.
The floppy disk then (by mechano-chemical means) inserts itself into the middle
of the program being run by the computer. The computer then goes about making
more floppy disks just like the one introduced, plastic covering and all, with
the same software as was stored on the original disk. Not only is the computer
not doing what it is supposed to do, but it is depleting it's resources in such
a way that will cause it to cease to function at all.
The protein shell has been of interest to research because if a way could be
found to rupture it before it attaches to the cell membrane, the virus RNA
would have no way to get into the cells. Just as if floppy disks were
distributed without the plastic coverings, the normal routine handling that
they are submitted to would destroy the integrity of the disk and therefore the
integrity of the data on the disk.
If you want or need more specific information than that, I can get as
techno-scientific as you wish.
Richard DeWald, BSN Student
Univ. of TX - Austin.
SEEN-BY:
--
Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!382!70!Richard.DeWald
Internet: Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org
#! joes@castor.Eng.Sun.COM (Joe Sirott) (07/12/90)
In article <36887@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Richard.DeWald@f70.n382.z1.fidonet.org (Richard DeWald) writes: >What is it that you want to know? Generally most all virii are protein >encapsulated. The protein shell attaches to the membrane of the target cell >and generally the nucleic acid portion of the virus is introduced into the >cell. What happens from there is dependent on the particular virus you are >interested in. The HIV RNA (the variety of nucleic acid present here) gets >inserted into a strand of T-cell RNA already operating within the machinery of >the T-lymphocyute cell. The cell then dutifully goes about the business of >making more HIV. This interrupts the normal activity of this cell (which is >the prevention of infectious disease) and eventually kills it. > Actually, I believe HIV viral RNA is packaged with a small amount of reverse transcriptase; both are released inside the targeted cell. The reverse transcriptase then manufactures double stranded DNA from the RNA template; this DNA is then integrated into the host genome. The host cell transcription machinery then processes the virus-produced DNA as if it were its own DNA, rather than foreign DNA. The result-- more HIV viruses. Incidentally, if I remember correctly, AZT works by inhibiting the action of reverse transcriptase.