My PBL Project
INTRODUCTION:
This Project focuses on data about viruses, more specifically the Influenza Virus. I have gathered Data/Knowledge and have displayed them in Q&A format and a Reconstruction of the Virus by a physical model. The Project was done thoroughly and I have displayed how i have created the virus model and how the Influenza Virus has affected us as Humans in both history and sociology.
In my virus project I will answer a lot of questions including:
What are viruses? How does the structure of a virus relate to its ability to infect cells, replicate, and cause disease?
MATERIALS:
Craft materials(scissors, glue, construction paper, etc),
Internet
Images for the materials are in this link: My Materials
Procedures to make the Virus Model
PROCEDURE: Answer the following questions for the virus model:
Does the Influenza virus have a capsid? If so, how did you represent the capsid in your model?
Yes it does, I have labeled "Capsid" the part of the virus I have chosen to represent it.
Does the Influenza virus have an envelope? If so, how is the envelope represented in the model?
Yes it does, I have used beads and map pins in the model to represent them, they are labeled "Lipid Envelope".
Does the Influenza virus have DNA or RNA? Is the viral genome single-stranded or double‑stranded?
It has RNA, the viral genome is single stranded.
What part of your virus model relates to how this virus would attach to and enter the host cell?
The Hemagglutinin answers this question, Influenza viruses bind through hemagglutinin onto sialic acid sugars on the surfaces of epithelial cells, from there it can enter the cell.
What cells does the Influenza virus infect?
It binds to and replicates in epithelial cells of both the upper and lower respiratory tract.
Which host cell organelles are used by Influenza viruses for their reproduction?
Vacuoles, Cytoplasm, Golgi apparatus, and the nucleus
·How is the virus genome replicated?
The virus inserts the RNA and all the required information into the host's nucleus.
Does the replication of the virus you modeled most resemble a lytic cycle or lysogenic cycle? Describe how the virus makes more viruses.
The Lysogenic cycle.
It replicates by entering a host cell and using this cell's resources to produce hundreds of copies of the viral RNA. The virus attaches to the outside of the host cell and its RNA enters into the cell. The viral genes are transcribed and translated by the cell's enzymes and ribosomes. In this way, the virus takes over the cell's productivity. Now, instead of producing only new cellular material, the cell produces hundreds of new virus particles. The new virus particles are eventually released from the cell and drift off, and some may land on a host cell of their own to pirate.
Why aren't viruses "cells"?
Because they aren't alive, they have no energy metabolism, they do not grow, they produce no waste products, and they do not respond to stimuli. They also don't reproduce independently but must replicate by invading living cells.
·Your virus model is obviously much larger than the real virus. What is the actual size of the virus?
80-120 nm in diameter.
How does this compare to a prokaryotic cell?
between 0.1 and 10 nanometers making it much bigger,
What about a eukaryotic cell?
eukaryotic cells range from 10 to 100 micrometers.
When infected by a virus, the immune system responds to "antigens" that are on the virus. What is an antigen? What part of the virus is likely to be an antigen?
An antigen is any substance that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against it. The Hemagglutinin.
What disease does the Influenza virus cause?
The Flu.
What tissues are affected?
The upper and lower respiratory tract, meaning the nose, mouth lungs, throat and sinuses.
Why aren't all cells affected by the virus?
Because of factors like size, methods, interactivity, etc. (This does not mean they don't affect them though).
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLE:
How do viruses work?
Viruses need a host, another living organism that gives them everything they need to work. Viruses take any chance they can to find a host. They get inside the host's cells and take it over. Viruses use the host cells machinery to make lots of copies, so many that the cell bursts and infects other cells around it.
what are they?
An infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, is too small to be seen by light microscopy, and is able to multiply only within the living cells of a host. It's only job is to kill living organisms.