Chapter Questions
Recall What is the genetic material of a virus?
Recall Define the following:(a) virion(b)capsid(c) nucleocapsid(d) protein spike
Recall What determines the family in which a virus is categorized?
Recall How does a virus infect a cell?
Recall What is the difference between the lytic pathway and the lysogenic pathway?
Reflect and Apply Is there a correlation between the speed of a viral infection and its potential mortality rate? Explain.
Reflect and Apply If you were going to design a drug to fight a virus, what would be likely targets for the drug design?
Reflect and Apply Some viruses can undergo lysis or lysogeny even in the same host. What might be a reason for this? Under what conditions might the virus favor the one strategy over the other?
Reflect and Apply What might be the characteristics of cells of a human who is immune to HIV infection?
Recall What is unique about the life cycle of a retrovirus?
Recall What enzyme is responsible for the production of viral DNA from a retrovirus?
Recall What are three reasons that retroviruses are studied so much these days?
Recall What is meant by gene therapy?
Recall What are the two types of gene therapy?
Recall What types of viruses are used for gene therapy, and how are they manipulated to make them useful?
Recall What are the potential hazards of gene therapy?
Reflect and Apply What are the considerations for choice of a vector in gene therapy?
Reflect and Apply Both ADA-SCID and type I diabetes are diseases based on lack of a particular protein. Why has the pioneering work on gene therapy focused on SCID instead of on diabetes?
Recall What health conditions are linked to malfunctioning immune systems?
Recall What is innate immunity? What is acquired immunity?
Recall What are the components of innate immunity?
Recall What are the components of acquired immunity?
Recall What is the purpose of a major histocompatibility complex?
Recall What is clonal selection?
Reflect and Apply Describe the relationship between the innate immunity system and the acquired-immunity system.
Reflect and Apply One of the first human proteins cloned was interferon. Why would it be important to be able to produce interferon in a lab?
Reflect and Apply Describe how the cells of the acquired-immunity system develop so that they do not recognize self-antigens but do recognize foreign antigens.
Recall What part of the immune system has been linked to progression of cancer?
Biochemical Connections What type of viral RNAs from herpes viruses confound the immune system?
Biochemical Connections Explain the mode of action of the herpes viral RNA and how they confound the immune system.
Recall What characteristics are shown by cancer cells?
Recall What is a tumor suppressor? What is an oncogene?
Recall Why are the proteins called p 53 and Ras studied so much these days?
Recall How are viruses related to cancer?
Reflect and Apply What is virotherapy?
Reflect and Apply Why is it inaccurate to say, "Smoking causes cancer"?
Reflect and Apply Describe the difference between a tumor suppressor and an oncogene with respect to the actual causes of cancer.
Reflect and Apply Describe the relationships between Ras, Jun, and Fos.
Reflect and Apply Describe the nature of p53 reactivation as a cancer-fighting strategy.
Reflect and Apply What is the difference between Prima-1 and nutlins in the way they would fight cancer?
Reflect and Apply Describe different techniques that might restore p53 to a cell lacking it.
Biochemical Connections Describe the positive and negative effects of the innate immune system on cancer cells.
Biochemical Connections Explain why some researchers believe science should focus its attention on the inflammation associated with cancer progression instead of looking for a cure.