Eli5:Can viruses “merge”, if so how?
In: Biology
Yes, viruses can merge. When a cell gets infected by two different viruses, the code from both viruses used to make more viruses is exposed to the cell. The cell system that creates more cells then reads both codes and tries to build a new virus from the code. When this happens successfully, really bad things can happen.
When a cell is infected, it starts producing the different parts of the virus. The different parts are then assembled together to make a new virus particle. Two pieces of the virus can stick together only if their borders have a matching shape, think of two pieces of a puzzle.
If the cell is producing parts of a seconf virus and the new part has a matching shape, it can stick to the first one and create a new type of virus.
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