RNA virus
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GC: n

S: NCBI – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9343347 (last access: 19 February 2016); Epidemic.org – http://www.epidemic.org/thefacts/viruses/rnaViruses/ (last access: 19 February 2016).

N: 1. RNA (n): 1948, abbreviation of ribonucleic acid .
virus (n): Late 14c., “venomous substance,” from Latin virus “poison, sap of plants, slimy liquid, a potent juice. Main modern meaning “agent that causes infectious disease” first recorded 1728.

2. A virus in which the genome consists of ribonucleic acid (a polymer composed of alternating units of the sugar D-ribos and phosphate. Attached to each sugar is one of the four bases adenine, cytosine, guanine or uracil).

3. Viruses are everywhere -and abundant. Viral infections can pose a mild risk to our health, like the common cold, or a threat to our lives, like an HIV infection. Viruses can be grouped according to their genetic material: DNA or RNA. Both types can infect host organisms and cause disease. However, the ways that DNA and RNA viruses infect host cells and take over the cell’s biochemical machinery are different.

4. Differences between DNA virus and RNA virus:

  • DNA viruses are mostly double-stranded while RNA viruses are single-stranded.
  • RNA mutation rate is higher than DNA mutation rate.
  • DNA replication takes place in the nucleus while RNA replication takes place in the cytoplasm.
  • DNA viruses are stable while RNA viruses are unstable.
  • In DNA viruses, viral genetic code is injected in the host DNA for duplication and decoding. RNA viruses skip DNA for duplication and decoding.

S: 1. Etymonline – http://goo.gl/4OIJPk; http://goo.gl/048uVb (last access: 19 February 2016). 2. TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/iXgnxq;”>http://goo.gl/iXgnxq; http://goo.gl/nXGydG (last access: 19 February 2016). 3. Scoppos – http://science.opposingviews.com/differentiating-rna-dna-viruses-4853.html (last access: 19 February 2016). 4. TDB – http://www.differencebetween.net/science/health/difference-between-dna-and-rna-viruses/ (last access: 31 May 2016).

SYN: ribovirus

S: TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/iXgnxq (last access: 19 February 2016)

CR: chikungunya, DNA, DNA virus, Ebola virus, HIV, rabies virus, Stegomyia albopicta, virus, Zika virus.