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Virology (lat. Virus - poison and Logos - science) is a science directly concerned with the study of viruses. This science studies the precise mechanisms and functioning of viruses into living cells.
Virology is a young science that develops alongside molecular biology development. Over the last 10 years, the science itself has achieved remarkable success in focusing on resources for learning and destruction of viral agents in human beings, animals and plants.
The existence of the virus was established in 1892 by Russian scientist named Dmitry Ivanovski. After years in researching on diseases of tobacco plants into exploitation, he found that the disease is caused by "bacteria passing through a filter and they are unable to grow on an artificial substrate."
Virus classification is a major branch of virology. Viruses can be classified according to the host cell they infect:
• animal viruses
• plant viruses
• fungal viruses
• bacteriophages
Another classification uses the geometrical shape of the virus capsid or structure, presence or absence of lipid envelope. Viruses range in size - from about 30 nm to about 450 nm. Most of them can’t be seen with microscopes. Instead, the shape and structure of a virus is studied by electron microscopy, as well as NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses from 2005 lists no less than 5450 viruses, organized in 2,000 species, 287 genera, 73 families and 3 orders.
Viruses reproduce and evolve but do not engage in metabolism. They do not move and depend fully on a host cell for their reproduction.
A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates inside living cells of organisms. Viruses can infect all types of life forms – animals, plants, microorganisms, bacteria and archaea.
The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids—pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity.
Viruses carry genetic material, reproduce and evolve, but they lack key characteristics that are generally considered necessary to count as a life form.
