What are Vampire Viruses?

About Vampire Viruses

• They are pathogens that latch onto other viruses in order to replicate themselves. 
• They emerge when a bacteriophage attaches to a soil-based virus, utilising its “life” for independent survival.
• This viral relationship between two pathogens is called a satellite and a helper.
• The satellite is the infectious strand that relies on the helper for support through its life cycle.
• Satellites depend on both their host organism and helper virus to complete its life cycle.
• The satellite virus depends on the helper virus to build the protective shell that covers its genetic material, called a capsid or to help it replicate its DNA.
• Most satellite viruses contain a gene that allows them to integrate into the host cell’s genetic material after they enter the cell. 
• This enables the satellite to reproduce whenever a helper enters the cell from then on.
• The host cell also copies the satellite’s DNA and its own when it divides. 

What is a Bacteriophage?

• Bacteriophages (BPs) are viruses that can infect and kill bacteria without any negative effect on human or animal cells. 
• For this reason, it is supposed that they can be used, alone or in combination with antibiotics, to treat bacterial infections.
• They are comprised of a protein capsule around an RNA or DNA genome.
• The bacteriophage structure may include various features for infecting the host cell. Many bacteriophages have a central shaft and leglike appendages.
• The legs attach to the bacteria, and genetic material is injected through the shaft into the host cell cytoplasm, where it replicates and reassembles into progeny.
• Thousands of varieties of phages exist, each of which may infect only one type or a few types of bacteria or archaea.

Q1) What is a Virus?

A virus is an infectious microbe consisting of a segment of nucleic acid (either DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. A virus cannot replicate alone; instead, it must infect cells and use components of the host cell to make copies of itself. Often, a virus ends up killing the host cell in the process, causing damage to the host organism. Well-known examples of viruses causing human disease include AIDS, COVID-19, measles and smallpox.

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