B. Case 1b: Visit to a Friend\'s Ranch Samantha traveled to Tucson to visit her
ID: 143584 • Letter: B
Question
B. Case 1b: Visit to a Friend's Ranch Samantha traveled to Tucson to visit her friend who lives on a ranch. It is a nice day out and they both decide to go for a walk. On their walk, Samantha (an animal lover) spots a squirrel that is face down in the ranch's water tanks. She retrieves the squirrel and carries it back to the house and puts it in a cage in the garage to dry off. I few hours later, she goes to check on the squirrel and it still seems tired and confused. Caring for the squirrel, Samantha picks it up in a towel and takes it inside the house to comfort it. However, within a few minutes, the squirrel springs to life and jumps from Samantha's arms. Worried that there is now a squirrel loose, Samantha corners it to pick it up and return it to the cage. However, upon retrieval, the squirrel turns and bites Samantha on the finger. They eventually get the squirrel back in the cage, but now Samantha is injured. 6. A few days later, Samantha notices that at the site of the bite, it becomes painful and very itchy. She notices that she has a headache and fever and goes to the doctor. Initial analysis reveals that the microbe is non-cellular and contains RNA. Is the microbe a prokaryote, eukaryote or virus? Explain how you know. 7. Further analysis reveals that the RNA is surrounded by a helical capsid supercoiled into cylinders and surrounded by a lipid membrane with surface spikes. Is the microbe in the patient's blood a Gram-positive bacterium, Gram-negative bacterium, Acid fast bacteria, naked virus, enveloped virus, complex virus, protozoan, or a fungus? Explain how you know 8. Explain the function of the surface spikes found on this particular microbeExplanation / Answer
ANSWER 6
The microbe causing these symptoms in Samantha is a Virus.
EXPLANATION-
Where prokaryotes and Eukaryotes are cellular structures, the former being without and latter with a nuclear membrane, virus, virions and viroids are non cellular structures.They are non even considered living in true sense, as any metabolic or processes cannot be carried withou a host cell. They exist merely as particles and not any cellular structures, till the time they are outside their host cell and are technically called virions.
In terms of their genomic structure, there are different types of viruses, some with DNA, RNA, while some with both in different stages of their life cycles.However, majority of them have a RNA genome. Viruses affecting plants have single stranded RNA genome, while bacteriophages have double stranded DNA genomes.
ANSWER 7)
The microbe in the patient's blood is an Enveloped Virus
EXPLANATION-
The capsid(protein shell covering the RNA),lipid membrane and surface spikes are characteristic features of enveloped virus. Capsids are made of subunits called capsomeres, composition and arrangement of which is the charachteristic feature of each virus.
Enveloped virus have a viral envelope covering their protective protein capsids. The envelops are derived from portions of the host cell membranes, generally durin their "budding off".They also help the virus in avoiding the immune system of the host cell. Glycoproteins or the surface spikes, on the surface of the envelope help to identify and bind to the receptor sites on the host membrane. The lipid membrane then fuses with the host cell membrane to release the RNA genome of the virus and also the helical capsid which is supercoiled.
ANSWER 8)
Surface Spikes are a feature of enveloped virus. The enveloped virus have a lipid membrane, derived from the plasma membrane of the host cell while budding itself out. This lipid membrane have glycoproteins which technically are proteins bound to carbohydrates that stick out of the envelope, collectively called surface spike due to their protruding structure. The basic function of the spikes is to attach the virus body to host cell, so that the virus can discharge its capsid and RNA into the host cell.
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