• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Saturday, January 16, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Immunology

How Long Does It Take a Virus to Infect a Cell?

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
November 26, 2013
in Immunology
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Viruses are as simple as they are “smart”: too elementary to be able to reproduce by themselves, they exploit the reproductive “machinery” of cells, by inserting pieces of their own DNA so that it is transcribed by the host cell.

How Long Does It Take a Virus to Infect a Cell

To do this, they first have to inject their own genetic material into the cells they infect. An international team of researchers, including Cristian Micheletti from SISSA (the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste), has studied how this occurs and how long it takes for this process to be completed.

Micheletti and colleagues constructed a computer model of viral DNA and then simulated the release of genetic material from the viral capsid into the host cell nucleus. Far from being a fluid process, this ejection is subject to frictional forces that depend on the conformation of the DNA strand. “Fluidity of the process depends on how and how tightly the viral DNA is entangled”, explains Micheletti. “The more topologically ordered is the double strand of the genome, the faster it is ejected from the virus. The situation is somewhat similar to the behaviour of an anchor line that has been correctly coiled: when the anchor is thrown overboard, the line uncoils neatly without stops or jerks due to tangles.”

DNA has an intrinsic characteristic that makes its pattern of spontaneous arrangement very singular. Because it has two strands, DNA has a tendency to form highly ordered coils, just like anchor lines or thread spools. This isn’t the case with generic polymers, which form complex and chaotic tangles. The simulations by Micheletti and colleagues compared the behaviour of a model strand of DNA and a simple strand of generic polymer. “In 95% of cases the model DNA slid through the exit pore of the virus much faster than the simple polymer, as a result of the greater spontaneous order of its conformation”, comments Micheletti. “The simple strands may be even ten times slower than the DNA strands. Another interesting thing is that, although much more slowly, the simple strands in our observations always succeeded in leaving the virus completely. By contrast, in a small minority of cases, the DNA remained totally blocked, and this too is related to its tendency to form a spool that may sometimes present such complex torus knots – i.e., doughnut-like – to completely block ejection from the virus”.

The process timescales observed by Micheletti and colleagues are perfectly consistent with empirical observations, “including all cases of complete DNA stalling that have been reported, though not explained, in some experiments”, concludes Micheletti. “Our study, which estimated the time it takes viral DNA to leave the capsid in relation to its length and degree of packing could provide the starting point for designing artificial viral vectors”.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati

Share15Tweet10Share3ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

IMAGE

NIH scientists identify nutrient that helps prevent bacterial infection

January 15, 2021
IMAGE

SARS-CoV-2 antibody test helps select donor blood samples for therapeutic use

January 14, 2021

Scientists identify “immune cop” that detects SARS-CoV-2

January 12, 2021

Disposable helmet retains cough droplets, minimizes transmission to dentists

January 12, 2021
Next Post
blank

Synthetic Antibodies Created With Carbon Nanotube

blank

Researchers develop new hearing test technology

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    The map of nuclear deformation takes the form of a mountain landscape

    53 shares
    Share 21 Tweet 13
  • Blood pressure drug may be key to increasing lifespan, new study shows

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • New drug form may help treat osteoporosis, calcium-related disorders

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10
  • New findings help explain how COVID-19 overpowers the immune system

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

Climate ChangeChemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesBiologyInfectious/Emerging DiseasesTechnology/Engineering/Computer ScienceMedicine/HealthEcology/EnvironmentMaterialsGeneticscancerPublic HealthCell Biology

Recent Posts

  • Better diet and glucose uptake in the brain lead to longer life in fruit flies
  • Rapid blood test identifies COVID-19 patients at high risk of severe disease
  • Conductive nature in crystal structures revealed at magnification of 10 million times
  • Howard University professor to receive first Joseph A. Johnson Award
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In