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Hello there!

I absolutely love this question since I love virology 😃

Anywhoo, here are the simplified steps involved in viral infection in a cell:

  1. Receptor binding- To get inside, viruses must possess the right kind of receptors and ligands to attach and bind with the different receptors and ligands on the cell
  2. Endocytosis- Once bound, the virus gets endocytosed into the cell. Entry style varies depending on the kind of virus you are interested in
  3. Protein expression- This is crucial as the virus will need proteins to make more copies of itself first and also carry its genome. Can either happen in the cytoplasm or nucleus and depends on the type of virus.
  4. Genome replication- When enough viral proteins are being produced, they can now switch to genome replication. Can either happen in the cytoplasm or nucleus and depends on the type of virus.
  5. Virus packaging and release- Once enough viral proteins and genomes are being made, virus particles can be assembled and later released outside the cell to infect more cells around them.

Keep in mind, the genome replication and protein expression steps alternate until they are almost balanced, like, there should be nearly equal amounts of viral proteins and genomes.

This whole thing can actually put a lot of stress on the cell which can lead to either cell death called apoptosis or an uncontrolled version called necrosis and expressing viral proteins on its surface to call for immune cells to kill it off. Sometimes viruses can suppress infected cells from raising an alarm and they just silently sit there producing more viruses like in HIV/AIDS.

Hope this answered your question 😄

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Viral_TDM

Lvl 7
∙ 4y ago

What else can I help you with?