Virus replication cycles

In this talk, we turn our attention to virus replication cycles, framing our discussion around the key characteristics that distinguish viruses from other microbes, including their dependence on host cells for replication and their unique replication cycles. We will discuss the major steps of viral replication, contrasting the lytic and lysogenic cycles and highlighting differences between DNA, RNA and retroviruses. Lecture will address how viral replication affects host cells leading to cell death, persistent infections, or even cell transformation. Finally, we will touch on the implications of viral replication for disease and antiviral drug targets. Vruses are unique infectious agents known for their simplicity and reliance on living host cells for reproduction. Unlike bacteria or eukaryotic microbes, viruses lack machinery for metabolism and replication on their own and thus must infect a host cell. The virus replication cycle is a series of coordinated steps that enables viral genomes and proteins to be produced and assembled into new particles. This cycle involves attachment, entry, genome expression, assembly, and release. A major distinction in viral replication is between the lytic and lysogenic cycles, especially seen in bacteria phages and animal DNA viruses. In the lytic cycle, viruses rapidly commandeer the host cell to produce progeny viruses, resulting in cell lysis and death, which leads to acute infections.