BIOL 206 : Biology 206 Notes.docx
Document Summary
Lecture 2: a case for evolutionary thinking hiv. Drug therapy: variation in fitness among the virus genotypes can affect the type of treatment that needs to be developed, is there a genetically based trait that influences the fitness during the treatment, azidothymidine (azt) Azt replaces the base thymine during reverse transcription and azide group blocks the reverse transcriptase. Is successful at first but then the cells got used to it and the virion evolved. Hiv found a new formation that wouldn"t use the azt and would only accept the proper base. The azt is a short term drug bc it can only be used for 6 months- a year before the hiv evolves. Hiv changes the structre of the reverse transcriptase. Depends on the relation between the replication and the transmission. Thought: what aspects of an aids infection influence the virus fitness: increase in the number of immune cells produced higher chances of infection of the host cells.