Genetics/Central Dogma
This generic term describes all of the genetic instructions contained within a cell or virus.
Genome
A long chain of amino acids held together by a special covalent bond called a peptide bond is the basic structure of this molecule.
Protein
This is the time it takes for each generation of doubling during microbial asexual reproduction.
Generation time
The genetic sequences of a virus, which can be made of any combination of DNA or RNA, single- or double-stranded.
Genome
Name the first stage of viral replication where the virus must bind to a protein (the viral receptor) in the plasma membrane of the cell.
Attachment
This property of DNA means that because the base pairing rules are constant (A with T, G with C), the sequence of one strand can predict the sequence of the opposite strand.
Complementarity
This is the specific three-letter "word" in an mRNA sequence that corresponds to a particular amino acid in the protein sequence.
Codon
This kind of rapid population increase occurs because asexual reproduction causes a doubling of the cell population with every generation (1 becomes 2, 2 becomes 4, etc.).
Exponential growth
This protein-based structure surrounds and protects the viral genome, and its individual proteins are called capsomeres.
Capsid
This is the process that naked viruses must use to exit a host cell, where the infected cell pops open like a burst balloon.
Cytolysis (or cell breakdown)
Name the three main stages of the Central Dogma, where genetic information is ultimately converted into functional proteins.
(DNA storage/replication), Transcription and Translation
This type of substitution mutation does not result in a change in a protein’s amino acid sequence.
Silent mutation
These microbes have a growth optimum around body temperature (90-100 degrees F) and include most human pathogens.
Mesophiles
This structure, an outer covering made of phospholipids stolen from the plasma membranes of cells, is present only on enveloped viruses.
Envelope
This type of persistent infection occurs when the virus becomes dormant and does not replicate until stress or illness causes a reactivation.
Latent persistent infection
This enzyme slides along the DNA molecule, reading the template strand to perform transcription, using Uracil (U) instead of Thymine (T) in the new copy.
RNA polymerase
What are the two types of gene mutations (besides substitutions) that often result in a frameshift because they change the grouping of codons in the reading frame?
Insertions and Deletions
Microbes that grow optimally where oxygen is high but can tolerate low oxygen environments are classified as this group.
Facultative anaerobes
This phrase describes the viral lifestyle, meaning they are required to live inside a cell and steal resources and the use of cell structures from living cells.
Obligate intracellular parasite
This is the term for a DNA copy of the viral genome that integrates into the host cell’s chromosome, allowing the virus to persist in chronic infections.
Provirus
What specific term is used for the strand of DNA that is copied during transcription (read by the polymerase), and the strand that has a genetic sequence almost exactly matching the resulting RNA molecule?
The strand read by RNA polymerase is the Template strand; the strand matching the RNA sequence is the Coding strand.
A mutation that changes an amino acid codon into a STOP codon is defined as this type of substitution mutation.
Nonsense mutation
Name the three enzymes involved in DNA replication discussed, including the one that unwinds the two DNA strands and the enzyme that performs the actual copying.
Topoisomerase (undoes supercoiling), Gyrase (separates the two strands), and DNA polymerase (performs the actual copying)
Name the two ways a virus can attach to a viral receptor on a host cell membrane.
Using spike proteins attached to the surface, or binding directly with their capsomeres
What two viral enzymes allow HIV, a retrovirus, to convert its RNA genome into a DNA copy that is then integrated into the host chromosome, violating the rules of the central dogma?
Reverse transcriptase (converts RNA to DNA) and Integrase (integrates viral DNA into the host chromosome)