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3 - What Is a Coronavirus?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2020

Raul Rabadan
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
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Summary

Viruses are amazing creatures. They are the most common, the most diverse, and the fastest-evolving biological entities on Earth. They infect every form of life known, “hijacking” the complex machinery of cells and forcing them into submission. Being much smaller and less complex than cells, they have a unique, tiny kit of “tools” able to regulate the essential elements of cells and to “fool” their defense mechanisms. It should be noted that viruses do not exhibit any of the life properties we usually attribute to cells (such as metabolism, development, or sensitivity) other than reproduction. What viruses practically “do” is to enter cells, their “hosts,” and use the cellular machinery to produce new virus particles. It is not surprising that many important discoveries in biology during the last 100 years have been made from, and through, viruses. Viruses have provided fundamental clues to the principles of molecular biology, such as how cells replicate and handle their information and the mechanisms that cause cancers, among many others.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • What Is a Coronavirus?
  • Raul Rabadan, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: Understanding Coronavirus
  • Online publication: 02 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108920254.003
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  • What Is a Coronavirus?
  • Raul Rabadan, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: Understanding Coronavirus
  • Online publication: 02 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108920254.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • What Is a Coronavirus?
  • Raul Rabadan, Columbia University, New York
  • Book: Understanding Coronavirus
  • Online publication: 02 June 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108920254.003
Available formats
×