BRAINCAKEViral Reproduction
A virus has no ribosomes, no enzymes for respiration and no supply of ATP. It therefore cannot reproduce on its own. To make new virus particles it must get inside a living host cell and take over the cell's machinery.
Inside the host cell, the virus uses:
• host ribosomes to translate viral mRNA into viral proteins
• host nucleotides to make new copies of the viral genome
• host amino acids to build capsid proteins and enzymes
• host ATP as the energy source
• host enzymes, such as RNA polymerase, in many viruses
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Key terms in this lesson
- endocytosis
- The bulk uptake of material into a cell by the inward folding of the cell surface membrane to form a vesicle.
More in Prokaryotic Cells
- The Structure of Viruses
- DNA Viruses
- RNA Viruses
- RNA Retroviruses
- Virus Life Cycle
- DNA Virus Latency
- DNA Virus Lytic Pathway
- RNA Virus Replication
All 31 lessons in Prokaryotic Cells · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics