Learn more about viruses and their structure, how they replicate, and their effect on human health, with this course.

All viruses make mRNA which is a molecule that carries a portion of the DNA code to other parts of the cell for processing. This course will first discuss the infectious cycle of a virus and how it uses the DNA replication processes within a cell to multiply rapidly. It will then discuss the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) which is the committee that classify viruses. You will learn that the first human virus was found in 1901 and was called Yellow Fever.

In 1935, the Tobacco Mosaic Virus was first crystallized to help describe virus structures and in 1940, the first electron microscopes were used to take pictures of a virus. Viruses are generally not considered to be true living organisms but they may infect every living thing on the planet. You will learn that they enter the cell by mechanical damage from insects or farm machinery in plants. This course will also discuss susceptible cells, resistant cells, and permissive cells.

Upon completion of this course, you will fully understand how viruses depend on their hosts to survive. You will also cover the topics on genomes and genetics where you will learn that the capsid is the protein shell surrounding a genome. So, check out this course today and start learning about the facts and myths of how viruses affect human health.