1. Are viruses living or non-living organisms?

Viruses are microscopic organisms that prevails almost everywhere. They can infect

different both living and non-living organisms. They consist of genetic material either RNA

or DNA and enclosed by a coat of protein (capsid), lipid (fat), or glycoprotein (Crosta,

2017).

Viruses are primary accountable for life-threatening diseases known occurred in

human history. Despite their potential to annihilate, viruses are considered to be non-

living organisms. Viruses are futile which means they cannot do anything on their own

until they hijack to enter a living host cell and take control of it making them parasitic.

Without a host cell, the viruses remain inactive particles (virions) that could not carry out

replication and multiply. The steps which viruses possess are passive meaning that

mechanisms happening are dependent on their environment and its host.

Finally, viruses have numerous insufficiency to be considered living. They can

survive on nothing; absence of respiration, doesn’t consume energy to live, lacking

cellular metabolism and have high specific gravity found only on non-living objects.

Conclusively, viruses do not possess independent existence (Port, 2017).

2. What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?

HIV is a virus which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus causing HIV

infection. It characterizes that only humans can contract it, deteriorate immune systems,
and can be transmitted between people in such ways: exchange of bodily fluids, sexual

intercourse, or during pregnancy which the child can possess.

Immune systems are known to completely eliminate certain foreign bodies like

viruses, HIV have different methods in alleviating it which considered to be difficult.

Moreover, it damages the immune systems via extermination of CD4 cells. CD4 cells (T

cells) are white blood cells in the immune system which helps the body’s natural defense

to combat infections and diseases. As a result, the immune systems are weakened due to

enormous copies of the virus and over the years, cases are vastly rising (CDC, 2020).

On the other hand, AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is

already a condition which can acquires only after a person contracted HIV. AIDS is a Stage

3 HIV meaning that the virus caused complex condition having a severe damage to the

immune system and may lead to the development of other diseases interfered by

opportunistic infections.

AIDS is the last stage of HIV infections. It demonstrates that when HIV infection

advances to the latter case, amount of HIV present in the body increases thus, the

number of CD4 cells decreases. One way to classify the presence of AIDS is to perform cell

counts. A normal person can have approximately 500 to 1,200 CD4 cells, however when

the cells have fallen to 200, a person with HIV can be consider progressed to Stage 3 HIV

(Ellis, 2014).
3. HIV is classified as a retrovirus. What are retroviruses?

Retroviruses are viruses with RNA as its genetic material belong to the family

Retroviridae. When it has infected a cell, it converts its RNA into viral DNA via reverse

transcription that is inserted into the DNA of host’s cell and begin replication. There are

various retroviruses, one of the most prominent is Human Immunodeficiency Virus

(Schulman, 2019).

Furthermore, the main components of virion are envelope, RNA, and proteins.

Retroviruses have two concentric outer circles of the lipid bilayer that comprises

embedded envelope protein complex. The capsid proteins are hexagonal in shape. The

copies of the RNA genome are in the form of a loop which is nucleoproteins-bounded.

The general genetics circulates in DNA makes RNA, and RNA synthesizes protein.

However, Retrovirus behaves backwards from the original occurrence, they have RNA

genome that enters living host cells then, that RNA is reverse-transcribed into DNA. The

viral DNA is later inserted into the genome of the cell, it replicates and begins to express

RNA. Some of the RNA is translated into proteins needed to package the retrovirus. And

some of other RNA genome is excreted outside the cell to contaminate other cells further

(Modine, n.d.).
4. In your own words, provide a short summary of the HIV replication cycle.

HIV replication cycle involves 7 distinctive stages. First, Binding/Attachment, the

virus binds to a receptor on the surface of the CD4 T cells (immune cells). Second, Fusion,

the envelope surrounding the HIV particle and CD4 T cell membrane fuse together,

allowing the virus to enter the CD4 T cell. Third, Reverse transcription, inside the CD4 cell,

HIV uses its reverse transcriptase enzyme to covert its RNA genetic material into HIV DNA.

It allows the HIV to enter the nucleus of CD4 cell making it compatible with the host cell’s

genetic material. Fourth, Integration, the newly synthesized HIV DNA travels to the cell’s

nucleus. A viral enzyme named integrase aids in transferring the viral DNA into the CD4

cell’s DNA. Fifth, Replication, the virus uses the CD4 T cell’s machinery to produce new

viral components, such as HIV RNA and HIV proteins. Sixth, Assembly, the newly made

viral components (HIV RNA and HIV proteins) combine close to the cell surface and begin

to form new immature HIV virions. Seventh, Budding, new immature HIV virions push out

from the surface of the CD4 cell, forming mature HIV virions aided by an enzyme named

protease. Protease breaks long chains of immature virus creating mature ones. Once

outside the host cell, these new HIV particles can go on to infect other CD4 T cells and

begin a new replication cycle.

5. Why is reverse transcriptase an important enzyme in the replication cycle of HIV?

Without reverse transcriptase, the viral genome could not achieve invading host

cells, reproduce and multiply to infect variety of its target cells.

 Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme significant in the HIV replication cycle that

makes an HIV a retrovirus via reverse transcription. The HIV genome consists of two plus-

stranded RNAs protected by the nucleocapsid. It uses building blocks from the T cell to

reversely transcribe the genetic material inside the host cell. It begins by reading the

sequence of viral RNA nucleic acids that entered the host cell and transcribes into a

complementary linear double-stranded DNA sequence enabling viral replication (Sullivan,

n.d.).

This enzyme supported in the creation of primary drugs against HIV inhibited reverse

transcription. Firstly, the nucleoside and nucleotide analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors

(NRTIs) that prevent further elongation of the DNA chain. Secondly, non-nucleoside reverse

transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) that bind to the enzyme yielding it to be inactive (Kirchhoff,

2013).

6. In the chapter about enzymes, we have discussed how drugs are basically inhibitors.

There are currently a multitude of Antiretroviral therapy (ART or ARV) options

available to people living with HIV (PLHIV) so that the viral replication is suppressed

and does not progress to AIDS. What do you think these drugs target? Discuss

briefly.

HIV attacks the immune system, specifically the CD4 T cells, which makes it harder

for the body to resist the infections. Certain Antiretroviral therapy prevent HIV from

multiplying. Having less HIV in the body gives the immune system a chance to recover.
These drugs inhibit various viral enzymes that is crucial for HIV replication, such as reverse

transcriptase, integrase, and protease. Moreover, the main purpose of these drugs are

the following; it prevents viral resistance, preserves numbers of CD4 T cells, decrease

inflammation and immune activation that contributes organ damage. (NIH, n.d.)

7. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes CoVid-19, belongs to the Coronaviridae family.

Viruses under this family have a genome made of single-stranded positive-sense

RNA. Is this similar to the viral genome of HIV? If so, do you think that – in theory –

they would have similar replication cycles?

Yes, they exhibit similar replication cycle for the reason that both of them is a

retrovirus. It could be a sort of RNA infection that embeds a duplicate of its genome into

the DNA of a host cell that it attacks, hence changing the genome of that cell and take

control of it. They are both characterized and transmitted as a single-stranded, positive-

sense, enveloped RNA virus, packed into a glycoprotein envelope. So, while the HIV has a

DNA expression of itself, which is used for replication, it also has an RNA code which are

transmitted between hosts (Hilotin, 2020).

8. In your own opinion, do you think that ART combinations/options might help in

suppressing the viral replication of SARS-CoV-2? Expound.

 Nowadays, cases of SARS-CoV-2 continuously rising around the world. Vaccines are

tirelessly waited by millions of people to suppress the virus that perished countless lives.

Health care professionals are pushed forcefully to create vaccines in months even though

it supposed to take years to be readily available to public.

Based on my understanding, ART options have been utilized in prohibiting HIV to progress

into AIDS. Since both of them are retroviruses, they may manifest similar mechanisms for

replication. The reverse transcriptase inhibitors drugs can block the processes of virus to

multiply. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), Nucleotide transcriptase inhibitors

(NtRTIs) and Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), contain flawed

impersonations of the proteins which embed themselves into the developing DNA. Therefore,

the double-stranded DNA chain converted from viral RNA cannot be fully formed, and

replication will be blocked (Cichocki, 2020). Conclusively, although it may not be a complete

cure for the SARS-Cov-2, reducing its severity and widespread all throughout the body can help

immune systems to combat diseases.

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