Biology
12th Edition
ISBN: 9780134813448
Author: Audesirk, Teresa, Gerald, Byers, Bruce E.
Publisher: Pearson,
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Chapter 16.2, Problem 1HYEW
A flu vaccination stimulates your immune system to recognize and attack the viruses that cause influenza. The immune system recognizes the viruses by the proteins they contain, but these proteins change from year to war. Why? Because of genetic drift, which is especially rapid in flu viruses due to their high mutation rate. After a year of genetic drift in the flu virus population, the immune system of a previously vaccinated person can no longer recognize the virus. The person needs a fresh vaccination designed to protect against the evolved version of the virus.
Why You Need to Get a Flu Shot Every Year?
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Students have asked these similar questions
Is the following statement true? “Antigenic drift and other mutations to the DNA of viruses are always beneficial for the virus.”
Yes, because mutated viruses are able to infect more hosts.
No, because mutated viruses are may be less likely to replicate.
Yes, because mutated viruses have less mRNA so they can copy and replicate faster.
No, because different mutations cause a variety of immune responses.
Stuck between 1st and 2nd answers. I think it's the 2nd, but would like confirmation. Thanks.
In 1918, an influenza pandemic that originated with avian flu killed 50 million people. Researchers isolated samples of that virus from bodies of infected people preserved in Alaskan permafrost since 1918. From the samples, they sequenced the viral genome, then reconstructed the virus. The reconstructed virus is 39,000 times more infectious than modern influenza strains, and 100 percent lethal in mice.
Understanding how this virus works can help us defend ourselves against other deadly influenza strains that arise. For example, discovering what makes it so infectious would help researchers design more effective vaccines. Critics of the research are concerned: If the virus escapes the containment facilities (even though it has not done so yet), it might cause another pandemic. Worse, terrorists could use the published DNA sequence and methods to make the virus for horrific purposes. Do you think this research makes us more or less safe?
Why do scientists worry more about new strains of viruses like influenza and coronviruses as potential causes of deadly human pandemics, but they never talk about the next big Herpesvirus strain deadly pandemic? Which of the statements below helps partially answer that?
Influenza and CoV are RNA viruses which results in having higher mutation rates -- they can more easily jump between host species. Herpesviruses are dsDNA viruses and usually very host specific.
Only humans get Herpesviruses, while animals can get Influenza viruses and Coronaviruses.
dsDNA viruses aren't very transmissible and even when they are, they're not deadly.
We already have effective vaccines for Herpes.
Influenza and CoV have more genes, more complex gene expression, and can undergo genetic recombination or reassortment, while Herpesviruses are more limited.
Chapter 16 Solutions
Biology
Ch. 16.1 - define evolution in terms of concepts from...Ch. 16.1 - define equilibrium population and describe the...Ch. 16.2 - If it were true that mutations do occur in...Ch. 16.2 - Explain how the distribution of genotypes in...Ch. 16.2 - A flu vaccination stimulates your immune system to...Ch. 16.2 - Prob. 3TCCh. 16.2 - If a population grows large again after a...Ch. 16.2 - Prob. 5TCCh. 16.2 - Evolution of a Menace The mutant alleles that...Ch. 16.2 - describe how mutation, gene flow, genetic drift,...
Ch. 16.3 - A team of phys clans treated four patients with...Ch. 16.3 - If we studied a population of bighorn sheep and...Ch. 16.3 - When selection is directional, is there any limit...Ch. 16.3 - describe why selection of phenotypes can affect...Ch. 16.3 - explain how competition and predation influence...Ch. 16.3 - Prob. 3CYLCh. 16.3 - compare and contrast directional selection,...Ch. 16.3 - Microbiologists have discovered that alleles...Ch. 16 - The alleles responsible for antibiotic resistance...Ch. 16 - Stabilizing selection on a trait tends to a. make...Ch. 16 - An adaptation is a. any trait that arises from a...Ch. 16 - Which of the following statements about mutations...Ch. 16 - Genetic drift occurs a. when different phenotypes...Ch. 16 - The ______ provides a simple mathematical model...Ch. 16 - Different versions of the same gene are called...Ch. 16 - An organisms ______ refers to the specific alleles...Ch. 16 - A random form of evolution is called ________....Ch. 16 - Competition is most Intense between members of...Ch. 16 - The evolutionary fitness of an organism is...Ch. 16 - What is a gene pool? How would you determine the...Ch. 16 - Define equilibrium population. Outline the...Ch. 16 - How does population size affect the likelihood of...Ch. 16 - If you measured the allele frequencies of a gene...Ch. 16 - People like to say that you cant prove a negative....Ch. 16 - Describe the three ways in which natural selection...Ch. 16 - What is sexual selection? How is sexual selection...Ch. 16 - In North America, the average height of adult...Ch. 16 - By the 1940s, the whooping crane population had...
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