Pathogens

• Pathogens are disease causing organisms - bacteria, virus, fungi, protist
• Lytic Pathway of a Virus:

  • Virus attaches to cell and injects its genetic material inside
  • Uses host cell's proteins and enzymes to replicate its genetic material - to make components of new viruses
  • Viral components assemble
  • Lysis - host cell splits open releasing viruses to infect new cells
• Lysogenic Pathway of a Virus:

  • Virus attaches to cell and injects its genetic material inside - taken to the genome of the host cell
  • Viral genetic material gets replicated when host cell divides
  • Remain dormant - no new viruses made
  • Trigger releases genetical material from genome and into lytic pathway
• Antibiotics can only be used to treat bacterial infections because they inhibit cell processes in the bacterium but not the host.