Internal Structure of SARS-CoV-2 virus

[Rongeet Banerjee]

Homework Statement:: Does Sars-cov-2 Virus have Reverse Transcriptase enzyme for its replication purpose?
Relevant Equations:: None

I surfed Google for a relevant answer to my query but failed to find one.I just want to confirm whether Sars-cov-2 has the Reverse Transcriptase or not.Logically it should because that's the only way I have read RNA Viruses multiply.First they enter the cell,then they convert their RNA into DNA ,which integrates with our DNA and then viral subunits are coded.

 

[TeethWhitener]

No, coronaviruses do not reverse transcribe their RNA into DNA. Instead, infected cells use the Coronavirus RNA directly to produce new viral proteins.

Edit: just realized this was in the homework section. But it doesn't really sound like a homework question.

 

[Thomas Michael]

Sometimes doing a simple Google search isn't good enough. I would recommend looking at scientific papers, particularly the Introduction section. One place I like to search for such papers is on Protein Data Bank. For instance, I did a search for SARS-CoV-2 on PDB, clicked the first entry, clicked the link to the paper, and the introduction had this to day: " Like all coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 has a positive sense (+), single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) genome."

Hope that helps!

 

[jim mcnamara]

Moved to Biology.

 

[TeethWhitener]

Sometimes doing a simple Google search isn't good enough. I would recommend looking at scientific papers, particularly the Introduction section. One place I like to search for such papers is on Protein Data Bank. For instance, I did a search for SARS-CoV-2 on PDB, clicked the first entry, clicked the link to the paper, and the introduction had this to day: " Like all coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 has a positive sense (+), single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) genome."

Hope that helps!

This is a good answer, but I would just add for clarity that “positive sense” means that the RNA is directly translatable to proteins. It’s not obvious that OP would know to look for this. (Also, some positive sense viruses reverse transcribe—like HIV)

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Homework Statement:: Does Sars-cov-2 Virus have Reverse Transcriptase enzyme for its replication purpose?
Relevant Equations:: None

I surfed Google for a relevant answer to my query but failed to find one.I just want to confirm whether Sars-cov-2 has the Reverse Transcriptase or not.Logically it should because that's the only way I have read RNA Viruses multiply.First they enter the cell,then they convert their RNA into DNA ,which integrates with our DNA and then viral subunits are coded.

SARS-CoV-2, like many other RNA viruses, uses an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) enzyme to directly copy its single-stranded RNA genome, synthesizing a complementary RNA strand to make a double-stranded RNA. This double stranded RNA can then be used by the RdRp to make more viral RNA genome molecules (by copying of the complementary RNA strand). As stated by others, the viral RNA genome can act as an mRNA molecule that gets recognized by the ribosome and translated into protein, allowing production of the viral proteins.

For more information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive-strand_RNA_virus#Replication

 

[Rongeet Banerjee]

Thank You Everyone.
I really appreciate all your help .

 

[TeethWhitener]

Also, nice first post @Thomas Michael !