name the process through which the virus change naturally over time ?
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Just as natural selection has shaped the evolution of humans, plants, and all living things on the planet, natural selection shapes viruses, too. Though viruses aren’t technically living – they need a host organism in order to reproduce – they are subject to evolutionary pressures.
The human immune system uses a number of tactics to fight pathogens. The pathogen’s job is to evade the immune system, create more copies of itself, and spread to other hosts. Characteristics that help a virus do its job tend to be kept from one generation to another. Characteristics that make it difficult for the virus to spread to another host tend to be lost.
Take, for example, a virus that has a mutation that makes it particularly deadly to its human host and kills the host within a few hours of infection. The virus needs a new, healthy host for its descendents to survive. If it kills its host before the host infects others, that mutation will disappear.
One way hosts protect themselves from a virus is to develop antibodies to it. Antibodies lock onto the outer surface proteins of a virus and prevent it from entering host cells. A virus that appears different from other viruses that have infected the host has an advantage: the host has no pre-existing immunity, in the form of antibodies, to that virus. Many viral adaptations involve changes to the virus’s outer surface.
The human immune system uses a number of tactics to fight pathogens. The pathogen’s job is to evade the immune system, create more copies of itself, and spread to other hosts. Characteristics that help a virus do its job tend to be kept from one generation to another. Characteristics that make it difficult for the virus to spread to another host tend to be lost.
Take, for example, a virus that has a mutation that makes it particularly deadly to its human host and kills the host within a few hours of infection. The virus needs a new, healthy host for its descendents to survive. If it kills its host before the host infects others, that mutation will disappear.
One way hosts protect themselves from a virus is to develop antibodies to it. Antibodies lock onto the outer surface proteins of a virus and prevent it from entering host cells. A virus that appears different from other viruses that have infected the host has an advantage: the host has no pre-existing immunity, in the form of antibodies, to that virus. Many viral adaptations involve changes to the virus’s outer surface.
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Evolution is the process through which the virus change naturally over time
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