Replication

This chapter begins with an overview of virus replication, and explains how studying bacteriophages has helped understand more complex viruses that are harder to work with, and then explains the processes involved in virus replication step by step. The virus replication involves three broad essential stages carried out by all types of viruses: the initiation of infection, replication and expression of the genome, and the release of mature virions from the infected cell. At a detailed level, there are many differences in the replication processes of different viruses that are imposed by the biology of the host cell and the nature of the virus genome. The other stages that have been discussed are: attachment, penetration, uncoating, genome replication, gene expression, assembly, maturation, and release. The chapter illustrates similarities in the pattern of replication of different viruses. Regardless of their hosts, all viruses must undergo each of these stages in some form to successfully complete their replication cycles.