Vírus E Doenças

Virus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the biological agent. For the computer programs, see Computer virus. For other uses, see Virus (disambiguation).

For a generally accessible and less technical introduction to the topic, see Introduction to viruses.

Page semi-protected

Viruses

Rotavirus

Virus classification

Group: I–VII

Groups

I: dsDNA viruses

II: ssDNA viruses

III: dsRNA viruses

IV: (+)ssRNA viruses

V: (−)ssRNA viruses

VI: ssRNA-RT viruses

VII: dsDNA-RT viruses

A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of other organisms. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea.[1]

Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants, and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898,[2] about 5,000 viruses have been described in detail,[3] although there are millions of different types.[4] Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity.[5][6] The study of viruses is known as virology, a sub-speciality of microbiology.

Virus particles (known as virions) consist of two or three parts: i) the genetic material made from either DNA or RNA, long molecules that carry genetic information; ii) a protein coat that protects these genes; and in some cases iii) an envelope of lipids that surrounds the protein coat when they are outside a cell. The shapes of viruses range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. The average virus is about one one-hundredth the size of the average bacterium. Most viruses are too small to be seen directly with an optical microscope.

The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids—pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity.[7] Viruses are considered by some to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection. However they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life".[8]

Viruses spread in many ways; viruses in plants are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on plant sap, such as aphids; viruses in animals can be carried by blood-sucking insects. These disease-bearing organisms are known as vectors. Influenza viruses are spread by coughing and sneezing. Norovirus and rotavirus,