Zaire ebolavirus: Difference between revisions
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Habitat; symbiosis; contributions to the environment. | Habitat; symbiosis; contributions to the environment. | ||
Zaire Ebolavirus RNA has been discovered | Zaire Ebolavirus RNA has been discovered within the cells of rodents and shrews that occupy niches in forest areas. This concludes that reservoirs of this virus are found in Central African Republic inside the rodent's internal organs. It has started a recent epidemic in the Republic of Congo, originally called Zaire, which has lead to a sudden death in mammals and humans. This zoonotic pathogen can be transmitted from animals to other uninfected animals and jump to invade humans. Zaire ebolavirus is a parasite to humans; therefore, the symbiosis is a parasitism relationship. The virus benefits and the host is negatively impacted during their interaction. This Zaire Ebolavirus is found within mammals that consume the natural vegetation of the forest environment of Africa. This negatively impacts wildlife like apes, chimpanzees, and bats. Once transferred to human, this becomes a devastation to public health. | ||
==Pathology== | ==Pathology== |
Revision as of 18:51, 16 October 2011
Template:Zaire ebolavirus Template:NEUF2011
Classification
Higher order taxa
Group: Group V ((-)ssRNA) Order; Mononegavirales Family; Filoviridae Genus; ebolavirus Species; Zaire
Species
NCBI Taxonomy: [1] |
Zaire ebolavirus
Description and significance
The appearance of this negative sense single stranded RNA (nonsegmented) virus is filamentous in structure. This virus was discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is a species of the Genus ebolavirus. The Genus ebolavirus contains five different species. The five species are: Sudan ebolavirus (SEBOV), Reston ebolavirs (REBOV), Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BEBOV), Ivory Coast ebolavirus (CIEBOV), and Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV). They were all discovered around 1976 with only one strain that is not pathegenic in humans which is the Reston ebolavirus. The filoviruses can cause up to a 90% mortality rate in humans as well. The virus is not considered to be living due to the fact that without a host the virus will die, although this topic is highly controversial.
Genome structure
The complete genome is 18,959 base pairs which makes up a linear strand of RNA. This is a single stranded, nonfragmented, negative sense RNA, which resides in Group V of the Baltimore classifcation system. This class of viruses needs a RNA-dependent RNA polymerase to transcribe the negative sense strand in to a positive sense strand. This can only be conducted by a viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The Zaire Ebola virus consists of 7 linearly arranged genes. The order of the genes is as follows: 3'-NP-VP35-VP40-GP-VP30-VP24-L. The transcriptional start and stop signals contain the sequence 3′-UAAUU. Three base intergenic sequences are present between the NP and VP35 genes (3′-GAU) and VP40 and GP genes (3′-AGO, and a large intergenic sequence of 142 bases separates the VP30 and VP24 genes. Stem-and-loop structures were identified in the 5I end of the leading strand. Alignment of predicted amino acid sequences showed that the structural proteins of Ebola virus and Marburg virus contain large regions of homology.
Cell structure and metabolism
VP30, VP35, nucleoprotein, and a polymerase protein [L] are the 4 virion structural proteins. VP40, glycoprotein [GP], and VP24 are the 3 membrane-associated proteins. The surface GP is encoded in 2 open readingframes (ORFI and ORFII). ORF I (amino-terminal) encodes for a small (50-70 kd), soluble, nonstructural secretory glycoprotein (sGP) that is produced in large quantities early in Ebola infection. The sGP binds to neutrophil CD16b, a neutrophil-specific Fc g receptor III, and inhibits early neutrophil activation. This could account for the lymphopenia associated with an Ebola infection. According to this research sGP is likely the key factor in preventing a successful immune response from the host. However, more recent research has proven that neutrophils do not express a specific receptor for Ebola virus sGP. It is unlikely that sGP plays a role in the Ebola virus pathogenesis through interfering with the innate immunity by targeting neutrophils, so the exact metabolism of the Ebola virus is still unknown.
Ecology
Habitat; symbiosis; contributions to the environment.
Zaire Ebolavirus RNA has been discovered within the cells of rodents and shrews that occupy niches in forest areas. This concludes that reservoirs of this virus are found in Central African Republic inside the rodent's internal organs. It has started a recent epidemic in the Republic of Congo, originally called Zaire, which has lead to a sudden death in mammals and humans. This zoonotic pathogen can be transmitted from animals to other uninfected animals and jump to invade humans. Zaire ebolavirus is a parasite to humans; therefore, the symbiosis is a parasitism relationship. The virus benefits and the host is negatively impacted during their interaction. This Zaire Ebolavirus is found within mammals that consume the natural vegetation of the forest environment of Africa. This negatively impacts wildlife like apes, chimpanzees, and bats. Once transferred to human, this becomes a devastation to public health.
Pathology
How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.
Current Research
Enter summaries of the most recent research here--at least three required
Cool Factor
Describe something you fing "cool" about this microbe.
References
NCBI Taxonomy Zaire ebolavirus
Edited by student of Iris Keren