Growth Curve and Life Cycle of Viruses

time

burst size

initial burst

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phase: eclipse

Eclipse phase: Viruses are now being manufactured within host cells. During this phase, viral contents enter the cell during the penetration step of the viral life cycle. After genetic material is uncoated (the capsids removed), genetic material is copied and viral components are manufactured during the biosynthesis step. Typically, a combination of viral enzymes packaged in the original virus and machinery and materials already present in the cell is used during biosynthesis.

This Demonstration gives a graphical description of a viral life cycle. Specifically, we show the inoculation, eclipse, maturation and plateau phases of the viral growth curve as well as the attachment, penetration, uncoating, biosynthesis, assembly and release steps of the subsequent viral life cycle. A explanation of the processes occurring in each phase is given, explaining the relevant details of the cell biology of the viral life cycle. A generalized logistic function was used to approximate the shape of the "one-step" viral growth curve.

Details

This was a project for Advanced Topics in Mathematics II, 2017–2018, Torrey Pines High School, San Diego, CA.

References

[1] J. M. Willey, L. M. Sherwood and C. J. Woolverton, Prescott's Microbiology, 9th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014.

[2] N. Parker, M. Schneegurt, A.-H. T. Tu, B. M. Forster, P. Lister, et al., Microbiology. (Feb 19, 2018) openstax.org/details/books/microbiology.

External Links

Logistic Equation (Wolfram MathWorld)

Permanent Citation

Jonathan Kuo, Richard Li

"Growth Curve and Life Cycle of Viruses"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/GrowthCurveAndLifeCycleOfViruses/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: February 23, 2018