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Viruses are an important natural means of transferring genes between different species, which increases genetic diversity and drives evolution. [9] [212] [213] It is thought that viruses played a central role in early evolution, before the diversification of the last universal common ancestor into bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. [214]
Some viruses can cause lifelong or chronic infections where the viruses continue to reproduce in the body despite the host's defence mechanisms. [52] This is common in hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections. People chronically infected with a virus are known as carriers. They serve as important reservoirs of the virus. [53] [54]
Gamma phage, an example of virus particles (visualised by electron microscopy) Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses.It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their interaction with host organism physiology and immunity, the diseases they ...
Viruses can, and do, turn our world upside down. But they also made us into what we are today.
Experts say that groups such as the elderly, pregnant women, people with preexisting conditions and the immunocompromised are particularly susceptible to complications from the virus and are ...
Marine viruses offer a number of important ecosystem services and are essential to the regulation of marine ecosystems. [3] Marine bacteriophages and other viruses appear to influence biogeochemical cycles globally, provide and regulate microbial biodiversity , cycle carbon through marine food webs , and are essential in preventing bacterial ...
Virus tropism refers to the virus' preferential site of replication in discrete cell types within an organ. In most cases, tropism is determined by the ability of the viral surface proteins to fuse or bind to surface receptors of specific target cells to establish infection.
Why it can cause such a devastating illness in Africans is not fully understood, but reduced immunity to virus caused by malaria might be to blame. [56] Epstein–Barr virus is important in the history of viruses for being the first virus shown to cause cancer in humans.