What are the major characteristics of the Flaviviridae?

What are the major characteristics of the Flaviviridae?

The Flaviviridae are a family of positive, single-stranded, enveloped RNA viruses. They are found in arthropods, (primarily ticks and mosquitoes), and can occasionally infect humans. Members of this family belong to a single genus, Flavivirus, and cause widespread morbidity and mortality throughout the world.

What genome classification are the flaviviruses?

The Flaviviridae is a family of small enveloped viruses with RNA genomes of 9000–13 000 bases. Most infect mammals and birds. Many flaviviruses are host-specific and pathogenic, such as hepatitis C virus in the genus Hepacivirus.

Why is flavivirus significant?

Background. Flaviviruses are enveloped single-stranded RNA viruses and major human pathogens. They are responsible for causing outbreaks and therefore they represent a serious health issue worldwide (1).

How many arboviruses are there?

There are more than 500 known arboviruses of which approximately 100 are capable of causing disease in humans. The major arthropod vectors of arboviruses are mosquitoes, ticks, sandflies, and biting midges.

Which of the following features is similar between flaviviruses and Togaviruses?

Flaviviruses and togaviruses both generate polyproteins that thread into and out of the ER membrane; what is the main purpose of this? To localize the viral glycoproteins in the ER lumen where they can then move to the Golgi and become glycosylated.

What is the shape of flavivirus?

The capsid of viruses in this family are icosahedral shaped and around the viral capsid a spherical shaped envelope is present. The capsids are approximately 40-50 nanometers in diameter and are composed of a single type of capsid protein. Unlike cellular mRNA, the genome of Flavivirus lacks a poly-A tail.

Why is it called the flavivirus?

Flaviviruses are named for the yellow fever virus; the word flavus means ‘yellow’ in Latin, and yellow fever in turn is named from its propensity to cause yellow jaundice in victims.

What are the 7 steps of the life cycle of the Flavivirus?

The basic stages of the flavivirus life cycle include attachment to the cell surface, internalization into the host cell, transfer of the viral RNA genome into the cytoplasm, translation of the viral proteins, replication of the genomic RNA, assembly and maturation of the virions, and ultimately the release of progeny …

What are some arboviruses?

Examples include California encephalitis, Chikungunya, dengue, Eastern equine encephalitis, Powassan, St. Louis encephalitis, West Nile, Yellow Fever, and Zika.

What is the pathology of arboviruses?

Infection with arboviruses can result in a wide range of disease syndromes, including systemic febrile illnesses, encephalitides, and hemorrhagic fevers. Examples of important human pathogens include the four dengue viruses (dengue virus 1–4), West Nile virus, yellow fever virus, and Japanese encephalitis virus.

What is the difference between alphavirus and Flavivirus?

Flavivirus virions are spherical, ca. 50 nm in diameter, and consist of a nucleoprotein capsid enclosed in a lipid envelope. The RNA is a single 40S (ca. 10.9 kilobases) positive-sense strand and is capped at the 5′ end, but, unlike alphaviruses, has no poly A segment at the 3′ end.

Are Togaviruses enveloped?

Togaviruses (family Togaviridae) are enveloped and icosahedral viruses that possess a positive-sense single-strand RNA genome of 11 kb. Members of this family are frequently referred to as alphaviruses, a genus of this family.

What is the shape of Flavivirus?