Virus Attachment

I. Attachment and Entry


Viruses are non-living entity because they are non-active outside a host cell and do not display actions which define them as living entity by the central dogma but starts to begin motion and actions of living entities once they are inside a host cell.Therefore, infection only starts when the virus is inside of the host cell.








But... how does the Virus get into the cell?










The answer is here!!!












The virus got to attach itself to gain entry to the host cell!!!














Alright... now that you get that... SO, do you know how does the virus attach itself to the cell?














Let me tell you how now!











- Attachment (Virus)

To be able to attach to their respective host cells, every type of viruses has their own specific virus attachment protein (VAP) to the host cell receptor. Therefore, Viruses do not attach itself to all the living cells they come across. They are only able attach themselves to those cells which has specific surface protein receptors that can receive and connect to the viruses’ own attachment proteins.




- Receptors (Host cells)

The receptors can be any surface molecule of the cell. It can be Glycoprotein or Glycolipid. Usually, a cell has multiple receptors and each receptor have their own function and opportunistically, viruses would use it as a mean for attachment. It is also because of that, viruses have a certain host range and tissue tropism.

A typical cell surface (**Note that the glycoprotein and glycolipid are the green structure protruding on the surface)

Now That's all for attachment part. The next post will cover about the routes of penetration by the virus into the host.