RNA virus

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/rna-virus

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is an RNA virus?An RNA virus is a tiny virus that carries its instructions in RNA instead of DNA. It can have one strand or two strands of RNA, and it can be positive or negative sense.
2. How do RNA viruses make more copies of themselves?RNA viruses make copies by using an enzyme called RNA‑dependent RNA polymerase. For viruses with positive‑sense RNA, the genome itself can be read directly to make proteins. For negative‑sense RNA viruses, the polymerase must first turn the genome into positive‑sense RNA.

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA): A single-stranded nucleic acid molecule that plays a central role in protein synthesis and gene regulation.
RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp): A viral enzyme essential for synthesizing RNA from an RNA template, enabling viral genome replication.
Retrovirus: A type of RNA virus that replicates through a DNA intermediate, using the enzyme reverse transcriptase.