SW StudyWalks

Biology  /  Bio 1905  ·  Atom · ~20 seconds

Viral Receptors and Host Specificity

Video not yet published
to the StudyWalks catalog
State

A virus attaches only to host cells bearing a matching surface receptor, which sets which species and cell types it can infect.

Show

HIV binds the CD4 receptor on T lymphocytes; a cell lacking CD4 cannot be infected by that binding route.

Watch for

A viral receptor is a normal host-cell molecule the virus exploits— the cell did not evolve it to admit viruses.