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How a virus enters a cell is different depending on the type of virus it is. A virus with a nonenveloped capsid enters the cell by attaching to the attachment factor located on a host cell. It then enters the cell by endocytosis or by making a hole in the membrane of the host cell and inserting its viral genome. [2]
In some cases, the virus with an envelope will form an endosome within the host cell. [10] There are three main types of viral glycoproteins: Envelope proteins, membrane proteins, and spike proteins (E, M, and S). [11] The viral envelope then fuses with the host's membrane, allowing the capsid and viral genome to enter and infect the host.
To enter the cells, proteins on the surface of the virus interact with proteins of the cell. Attachment, or adsorption, occurs between the viral particle and the host cell membrane. A hole forms in the cell membrane, then the virus particle or its genetic contents are released into the host cell, where replication of the viral genome may commence.
Entry, or penetration, is the second step in viral replication. This step is characterized by the virus passing through the plasma membrane of the host cell. The most common way a virus gains entry to the host cell is by receptor-mediated endocytosis, which comes at no energy cost to the virus, only the host cell. Receptor-mediated endocytosis ...
The escape hypothesis did not explain the complex capsids and other structures on virus particles. The virus-first hypothesis contravened the definition of viruses in that they require host cells. [27]: 24 Viruses are now recognised as ancient and as having origins that pre-date the divergence of life into the three domains.
Viruses are generally between 20–200 nm in diameter. [27] For survival and replication, viruses inject their genome into host cells, insert those genes into the host genome, and hijack the host's machinery to produce hundreds of new viruses until the cell bursts open to release them for additional infections.
The host cell membrane then engulfs the virus, a process known as endocytosis, and pinches off to form a new membrane-bound compartment within the cell called an endosome. The cell then attempts to begin digesting the contents of the endosome by acidifying its interior and transforming it into a lysosome. Once the pH within the endosome drops ...
When a cell's DNA is damaged by a virus such that the cell cannot repair itself, this often triggers apoptosis. One of the results of apoptosis is destruction of the damaged DNA by the cell itself. Some viruses have mechanisms to limit apoptosis so that the host cell does not die before progeny viruses have been produced; HIV, for example, does ...