eli5: what happens if two different types of viruses infect the same cell?
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In most cases not much. However sometimes one virus can benefit from co-infection and sometimes material can be exchanged which can benefit both.
In the first case more “simple” viruses can benefit from a more “complex” virus taking control of cellular functions like pushing the cell into the right phase of the cell cycle or shutting off the cells defenses against viral infection. Cells dont replicate genetic material all the time, so if you are a virus you might have to wait to be replicated unless you have the ability to force the cell into a replicating phase. Some viruses take this further and require co-infection to spread, for example Hepatitis D which requires the help of Hepatitis B to replicate.
In the second case genetic material between viruses can be exchanged, usually strains of the same virus. Influenza does this a lot, it actually evolved a segmented genome just so it can swap whole sections of its RNA with other flu viruses. This is why flu pandemics are so common, a totally new flu strain can pop up overnight after parts of animal flu viruses combine (like bird flu viruses combining in pigs then crossing to humans).
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