Contrast pathogenicity and virulence, and describe why virulence can be considered an evolving property

What will be an ideal response?


Pathogenicity is the ability of a pathogen to cause disease; virulence describes the degree or extent of disease that a pathogen causes. Whereas pathogenicity is an all-or-nothing term, virulence varies, may depend on both pathogen and host features, and may evolve over time. To endure over time, a pathogen's ability to break down defenses and live within a host must be balanced with the ability to transmit to others. A highly-virulent pathogen which is transmitted person-to-person and causes high-mortality outbreaks that rapidly kill or debilitate hosts usually remains geographically isolated and causes short-lived outbreaks. Over time, this pathogen may evolve into one which does not kill victims right away, thus increasing the time available for transmission.

Biology & Microbiology

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Plants from which of the following groups died off as angiosperms diversified and became more abundant? Select all correct choices

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Biology & Microbiology

In order to use the energy stored in sugars, what must the cells must first transfer it to? How does the energy transfer occur?

What will be an ideal response?

Biology & Microbiology

The snipping out of specific introns is an example of

what type of gene expression control? a. transcriptional b. transcript processing c. transcript transport d. translational e. post translational

Biology & Microbiology

Which mechanism of controlling gene expression occurs outside of the nucleus?

A) adding a cap and tail to RNA B) DNA packing/unpacking C) RNA splicing D) translation

Biology & Microbiology