You should be familiar with a range of cell types and be able to identify the structures seen with both light and electron microscopes in this variety of cells. There is debate about whether or not viruses should be classified as living things, or cells at all. Because viruses can survive but not reproduce outside a host cell, they fall into a group of their own. Nucleic acid inside. Can be either DNA or RNA, but it's role is to take over the metabolism of the infected host cell and force it to produce and release millions more virus particles.
Viruses come in a wide variety of shapes.
Check your textbook for diagrams or pictures of viruses. Here is a diagram of the HIV-AIDS virus. Because this virus contains RNA as its nucleic acid, it also carries the enzyme reverse transcriptase . Once inside the host cell, this enzyme forces the cell to manufacture DNA, using the viral RNA as the template. We welcome your comments about this project .