Virions Are Often Described as Being Energetically "Metastable

Question

Examlex · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Virons are described as "metastable" because they are not at their lowest, most stable, energy state.If they were, they would not be able to "pop open" to release the genome in the next host cell.Instead, they are like a "Jack-in-the-box", primed to spring open and release the genome after some triggering event.The triggering event that causes the virion to open and release the genome is often the interaction with the host cell receptor or some other change, like a drop in pH, that occurs during attachment and entry.Often proteolytic cleavage of a virion protein is involved in setting up the metastable state and "setting the spring" that will eventually allow the virion to pop open.

Virions Are Often Described as Being Energetically "Metastable

Definitions: