How does the virus use a host cell to make copies of itself

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Jaydon Pace

Biology

28 February, 11:58

How does the virus use a host cell to make copies of itself

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Allyson Lang · Answer 1

I wasn't quite sure what virus you were referring to in your question, but here's a general answer: Viruses use their host cells' machinery to replicate themselves.

If they are a specific type of virus known as a retrovirus, they have the ability to use the host cells' enzymes to change the RNA contained within the virus into DNA (via some type of replication I suppose).

In other cases, if they contain DNA instead of RNA (that is, the virus), they can use the host cell's machinery to create RNA via enzymes involved in transcription and/or they can incorporate that DNA into the host cell's DNA. This is part of a type of viral replication cycle known as the lysogenic cycle.

In another type of viral replication cycle known as the lytic cycle, the virus simply has itself and its genome duplicated until the host cell bursts, releasing the viral material. Here, again, the virus uses the host cell's machinery to replicate itself.