You are a physician, and you suspect your patient has a viral infection that has never been seen in humans. The infection is localized in the cells along the lining of the small intestine. The cells in this area are regularly sloughed off and replaced with new cells; that is, these cells are constantly dividing. When you isolate this new virus and incubate it in culture, you discover that it does not replicate well in cultures that have slowly dividing cells, but it does much more damage in cultures that have actively dividing cells. What do these findings suggest about this new virus?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The findings suggest that the virus is a double-stranded DNA virus because it replicates more efficiently in actively dividing cells. This characteristic is typical of some double-stranded DNA viruses, which often rely on the host cell's DNA replication machinery, more active in dividing cells, to replicate their own genome.

You Are a Physician, and You Suspect Your Patient Has