Thread: viruses

its intersting to know bacteriaphage incorporate their DNA/RNA into bacteria, but i wonder how do they get energy to do this?
although the receptors on both match what is the source of energy?

i think they get the enegry from the host.

As with RNA virii, they use reverse transcriptase to translate the RNA to DNA, then the DNA gets spliced in by the host (at the host's expense).

-Ajain

Originally Posted by prasan

its intersting to know bacteriaphage incorporate their DNA/RNA into bacteria, but i wonder how do they get energy to do this?
although the receptors on both match what is the source of energy?

Hi prasan,
an extremely interesting question.
first, maybe you already know it, not only bacteriophages do that, also other viruses that attack eukaryotes.

Apparently, there are various ways for viruses to invade a cell. The most understood is when the virus gets attached to a receptor on the target cell (which is thermodynamically favorable). This in troduces a conformational change in the viral particle which triggers the injection of the genome into the target cell.

Once the genome is inside the host, the latter begins to express the viral proteins (using the host's energy sources).

referneces:
http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Microtextbo...&theme=Printer

thank u man