Name: ___Marques Alsopp______________________ Date: _______4/7/21___________

Student Exploration: Virus Lytic Cycle

Vocabulary: bacteriophage, capsid, host cell, lyse, lytic cycle, virus

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. A computer virus is a program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the
permission of the owner. How do you think a computer virus compares to a real virus?

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A real virus copy itself and infect an organism without the organism permission
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2. Have you ever been infected with a virus, such as the cold virus or flu virus? ___Yes______

3. If so, how did the virus affect you? _____________________________________________

I was sick for about a week with a high fever a cough and a sneeze then I got better.
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Gizmo Warm-up
A virus is a microscopic particle that can infect a cell.
Viruses are primarily composed of a protein coat,
called a capsid, and nucleic acid. In the Virus Lytic
Cycle Gizmo™, you will learn how a virus infects a
cell and uses the cell to produce more viruses.

1. Viruses are extremely small. A typical virus is

about 100 times smaller than a single cell, such
as a bacterium. Label the virus and a bacterial
cell in the image at right.

2. Bacteriophages are
viruses that infect
bacteria. Based on the
diagram at left, label
the head, tail, tail fibers,
and the strand of
nucleic acid in the
image at right.

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:
Lytic cycle  If necessary, click Reset ( ).

Introduction: Unlike living organisms, viruses cannot reproduce on their own. Instead, viruses
infect host cells, taking over the cell’s machinery to produce more viruses. This process is
called the lytic cycle.

Question: What are the steps of the lytic cycle?

1. Observe: Use the navigation arrows on the DESCRIPTION tab to read about the stages of
the lytic cycle. Using your own words, summarize each step of the cycle.

Step Summary

A lytic bacteriophage virus, a virus made of a protein capsid nucleic acid

1
and a tail section attaches itself to a virus

↓
The virus injects its nucleic acid into the cell and use its ribosome to
2
make proteins which destroys the cell’s DNA

↓
The virus’s capsid and tail are now useless so they separate and the
3
cell now makes the viruses protein and nucleic acids

↓
4 New viruses are made from the protein and nucleic acids

↓
The cell burst due to the virus nucleic acid and the viruses and now free
5
to infect other cells

(Activity A continued on next page)

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Activity A (continued from previous page)

2. Analyze: The yellow ring inside the bacterial cell represents the bacterial DNA. Why does
this structure disappear by step 3 of the lytic cycle?

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This structure disappears because in step 2 the virus destroys the DNA with its nucleic acid
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3. Describe: How does a virus destroy the host cell’s DNA? ____________________________
The virus destroys the host cell’s DNA with the protein it makes after hijacking the ribosome
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4. Describe: How are new viruses reproduced? _____________________________________

New viruses are made when the nucleic acids and proteins the virus made in the cell
combine
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5. Think and discuss: Why can’t a virus reproduce on its own? _________________________

A virus can’t reproduce on its own because it lacks a ribosome

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6. Justify: To lyse is to burst apart or explode. Why do you think a virus’s reproduction cycle is
called the “lytic cycle”?

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A virus reproduction cycle is called the lytic cycle because the lytic virus lands on a cell
makes more viruses inside a cell that lands on more cells when it burst
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 Activity B:
Get the Gizmo ready:
Spread of
 If necessary, click Reset.
infection

Question: How does a viral infection spread?

1. Predict: Suppose that a virus infects a small population of bacteria. Predict how the numbers
of viruses, infected cells, and uninfected cells will change as the infection progresses. On
the blanks below, write increase, decrease, or stay the same.

Viruses: ___Increase_________ Infected cells: ________increase_______

Uninfected cells: ________decrease_______

2. Observe: Click Play ( ), and watch the simulation. Describe what you see.
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I see the viruses traveling to each cell infecting them and making more viruses.
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3. Test: Click Reset, and Select the BAR CHART tab. Turn on Show numerical values. Click
Play, and watch each bar as the simulation runs. What do you notice, and how does this
compare to your predictions?

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I notice the number of healthy cells constantly go down and the amount of healthy ones
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constantly go up but the number of infected cells go up and down until it crashes
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4. Record data: Select the TABLE tab, and use the data to complete the second column of the
table below. To complete each cell in the third column, subtract the previous time value from
the current time value. For example, if it took 80 minutes to reach 40 cells and 100 minutes
to reach 30 cells, then the time difference is 20 minutes.

Number of Amount of time to decrease

Time (minutes)
healthy cells population by 10
50 0 minutes --
40 65.1 65.1
30 96 30.9
20 118.5 22.5
10 129.9 11.4

(Activity B continued on next page)

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Activity B (continued from previous page)

7. Analyze: What trend do you see in the third column of your data table? ________________

it decreases _______________________________________________________________

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8. Explain: How would you explain this trend? ______________________________________

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There are more viruses the more time goes on so they can spread faster
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9. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab. Run the Gizmo again, and observe what happens in the
SIMULATION pane when the graph shows a decrease in the viruses’ population size.

A. Why does the number of viruses sometimes increase and sometimes decrease?

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One virus dies whenever the virus reproduce
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B. Sometimes when a virus enters a cell, it becomes dormant for a while. Why might
this make it difficult for a doctor to diagnose a viral infection?

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It can make it difficult for a doctor to diagnose a viral infection ccause there will be no
deaths in the cells
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10. Extend your thinking: AIDS is one disease

caused by a virus infection. The virus attacks
immune system cells known as T cells.

Based on your observations from the Gizmo,

how would you explain the data shown on
this graph?

__the cells are dormant when the graph is

flat and when the cell is crashing the virus is
spreading _________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

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