Write a short essay about how the virus attaches to, enters, disrupts, and exits cells.This should also address what you learned about how the virus biology relates to symptoms and disease (pathology). Your essay should address the following questions (in no particular order, as long as it’s logical for you):
1. How does the virus attach to a cell, exactly? I mean:
2. What molecule(s) does it attach to?
3. What is the normal function of that molecule (is it a receptor? If so, what pathway is it involved in and what does that normally do (ex: insulin receptors are expressed on most cells and trigger the release of extra glucose transporters in the target cells). If it’s a cell adhesion molecule, what does it normally bind to (from the other cell) and what type of adhesion molecule is this? [This type of information is covered in more depth in these last 2 chapters of course material. You may want or need to look ahead.]
What cells of the body express that molecule? (You’ll have to do some internet research, but I did provide helpful links).
4. How, exactly, does the virus get into the cell once it has bound? (Passive transport? Active transport? Endocytosis? Pinocytosis? Receptor-mediated endocytosis? Clathrin-coated pits?
What happens to the virus AFTER is it engulfed by the cell, specifically? Is it degraded in a lysosome? Transported in an endosome? Just dumped loose in the cytoplasm?
How are the physical/structural and genomic components of the virus assembled and where in the cell does this occur?
3. How to the structural and genomic components of the virus come together?
6. How do the assembled virions get out of the host cell?
7. Based on the tissues that this virus can bind to, how does this correspond to symptoms reported for COVID-19?
8. Are there any weird symptoms that do NOT correspond to what you learned? Do you think they’re legit? Why or why not?
This essay requires in-text citations for your sources. References should follow the format of the journal Cell (since this class is Cell Biology). References do NOT count toward your word or page length. If your reference does not appear as an in-text citation, it should not be in your references list. DO NOT use MLA or APA format. Science and medical journals actually rarely use those formats, so it is good for you to branch out some and get some experience. I’m including two good ways to do this:
https://www.citethisforme.com/guides/cell/how-to-cite-a-journal
https://paperpile.com/s/cell-citation-style/
