Chapter 13, Problem 2CT

Summary Introduction

To review:

The evolutionary value of viruses for their ability to cause disease.

Introduction:

Viruses are disease-causingagents. They are inert outside the body of an organism but becomes active and live when inside the host body. Viruses invade the host’s body in different ways. Depending on the type of virus, they can undergo endocytosis or just attach to the host substratum and release its genome into the host cell and then take up host’s machinery to multiply and increase in number within the cell. These viral particles are then released and spread into the whole body of the host affecting the target tissues by lytic or lysogenic cycles.