Alright, so today in class, the first thing we did was turned in our cancer papers. I hope we all did well! After that, we discussed the lab we did yesturday. Turns out, MR PAEK was the instigator of the disease. ED was the one and only carrier of the disease. Silly old Ed!
After this, we discused VIRUSES. Viruses are interesting little creatures. Well, actually, they aren't creatures at all; they are NONLIVING, because they do not have all of the traits that scientist say make a thing living (CELLS are the smallest unit of life, not viruses!).
A protein coat, called a CAPSID, surrounds a virus. Viruses are sneaky little things. A virus uses its proteins to 'trick' a cell to take in the virus/its genetic material. (Speaking of which, a virus's genetic material consists of DNA/RNA.).
A virus can ONLY reproduce within a host cell; it can NOT divide on its own. Viruses are PARASITES, because they exist off of an organism and harm the organism while doing so. There are two cycles of a virus entering a host called the Lysogenic Cycle and the Lytic cycle. In the lysogenic cycle, the virus enters a cell and the viral DNA integrates into the host's DNA. Then, the host cell replicates WITH the viral DNA. From there, more and more virus cells get created! The lytic cycle is very similar, except for an important part. In the lytic cycle, the cell EXPLODES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the viruses are let out and spread quite rapidly to other cells.
In other words: Cell go boom = Virus get spread.
After discussing viruses, we were going to watch a video. But 8th period jitters got the best of us again, so we didn't get to watch the video yet. :( But don't worry folks, we will watch it next time!
BIOLOGY RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok bye!
Next scribe is.. Maggie :)
P.S I spent a long time putting in pretty colors and stuff...but they aren't showing up :(
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