Acellular Pathogens (Microbiology)

Recall cards on the acellular pathogens. Viruses: virions, capsids and capsomeres, naked versus enveloped particles, glycoprotein spikes, size range, and the helical, polyhedral, and complex morphologies; DNA and RNA genomes, host range, ICTV taxonomy and the Baltimore classification, and the history from Ivanovski to Beijerinck to Stanley. The viral life cycle: the bacteriophage lytic cycle, temperate phages and lysogeny (prophage, lysogen, lysogenic conversion, induction, lambda), generalized and specialized transduction, the animal virus cycle with endocytosis, budding, and tissue tropism, positive- and negative-strand RNA and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, retroviruses and proviruses (HIV), and latent and chronic infections (varicella-zoster, hepatitis C). Isolation, culture, and identification: in vivo and in vitro cultivation, embryonated eggs, primary and continuous cell lines (HeLa, contact inhibition), cytopathic effects (syncytia, inclusion bodies), plaque assays, hemagglutination and hemagglutination inhibition, RT-PCR, and enzyme immunoassays. And the subviral agents: viroids (Diener, PSTVd, ASBVd), virusoids and satellite RNAs (HDV), and prions (Prusiner, PrPc versus PrPsc, TSEs, CJD, kuru, mad cow, scrapie, and chronic wasting disease).