Bacteria, virus, and prions all play a part in our life, good and bad. Bacteria are forms of life that are considered living. That’s the difference between virus and prions, who lack the ability to reproduce once they are isolated. The reason behind that is because viruses and prions need a host to reproduce. Bacteria are single celled microbes. The cell is simpler than other organisms because there is no nucleus or membrane bound organelle. Bacteria’s genetic information is contained in a single loop of DNA. They reproduce by binary fission in which the single cell divides into two identical daughter cells.
It is a continuous debate whether viruses are living and non-living. They can infect any animal, plant, or bacteria. A virus has linear …show more content…
Prions are flexible and adopt many different shapes. The misfolded prions can force the normal prions to change into a misfolded shape. This can be deadly as the amount of misfolded proteins build up. A small dose of misfolded prions can infect the whole organism.
Viruses have an outer capsid, composed of protein subunits and an inner core of nucleic acids with either DNA or RNA. They contain protein, nucleic acid, and lipids. Some viruses like the influenza virus also have spikes, which attach the virus to a host cell. The interior of a virus can contain enzymes that assist in the manufacture of a new virus. Many animal viruses contain a lipid envelope. When looking at bacteria in a microscope it looks like many different shapes. It looks rod shaped, spherical, curved, square, and even star …show more content…
Passing on rabies can be transmitted through the saliva of animals and less commonly through human saliva. It has a negative stranded RNA genome. Rabies virus infects the whole central nervous system. It usually lasts 1-3 months. Lyme disease is an example of a bacterial disease. This is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. It is transmitted by the bite or infection of blacklegged ticks known as deer ticks. They are about the size of a poppy seed and because they are so tiny their bite is painless, most people don’t even realized they have been bit. The longer the tick stays attached, the more likely it will transmit the Lyme disease into your blood stream. An example of a prion disease is fatal familial insomnia (FFI). This is a rare dominant prion disease of the brain. It is caused by a mutation to the protein PRPC. FFI has no cure and continues to worsen. After being diagnosed, the life span is around 18 months. These diseases have some things in common. They can all lead to fatality. Rabies and Lyme disease are both passed on with bodily fluids like blood and saliva. FFI on the other hand is not passed on with bodily fluids but rather an inherited
It is a continuous debate whether viruses are living and non-living. They can infect any animal, plant, or bacteria. A virus has linear …show more content…
Prions are flexible and adopt many different shapes. The misfolded prions can force the normal prions to change into a misfolded shape. This can be deadly as the amount of misfolded proteins build up. A small dose of misfolded prions can infect the whole organism.
Viruses have an outer capsid, composed of protein subunits and an inner core of nucleic acids with either DNA or RNA. They contain protein, nucleic acid, and lipids. Some viruses like the influenza virus also have spikes, which attach the virus to a host cell. The interior of a virus can contain enzymes that assist in the manufacture of a new virus. Many animal viruses contain a lipid envelope. When looking at bacteria in a microscope it looks like many different shapes. It looks rod shaped, spherical, curved, square, and even star …show more content…
Passing on rabies can be transmitted through the saliva of animals and less commonly through human saliva. It has a negative stranded RNA genome. Rabies virus infects the whole central nervous system. It usually lasts 1-3 months. Lyme disease is an example of a bacterial disease. This is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. It is transmitted by the bite or infection of blacklegged ticks known as deer ticks. They are about the size of a poppy seed and because they are so tiny their bite is painless, most people don’t even realized they have been bit. The longer the tick stays attached, the more likely it will transmit the Lyme disease into your blood stream. An example of a prion disease is fatal familial insomnia (FFI). This is a rare dominant prion disease of the brain. It is caused by a mutation to the protein PRPC. FFI has no cure and continues to worsen. After being diagnosed, the life span is around 18 months. These diseases have some things in common. They can all lead to fatality. Rabies and Lyme disease are both passed on with bodily fluids like blood and saliva. FFI on the other hand is not passed on with bodily fluids but rather an inherited