Question #b1473
1 Answer
It is a fact that putting enveloped virus in a lipid solvent,causes disruption of its envelope,and the virus becomes inert.
Envelope is an outer coating present in some viruses,which has two components,the lipid portion,derived from either host cell membrane(Rhabdovirinae-intracytoplasmic development) or host nuclear membrane(Herpes family-intranuclear development) and the protein portion,which is derived from the virus itself.
Now,virulence of enveloped virus depends on the peplomers or spikes present over it's envelope,which contains enzymatic moieties which help in pathogenesis.Like hemagglutinin moieties of Cordipoxvirinae and Myxovirinae,Neuraminidase moieties of Myxovirinae,Glycoporotein spikes of Rhabdovirinae.
So,placing them in a lipid solvent causes disruption of this envelope,as a result they loose these enzymatic moieties responsible for their virulence,and rendered avirulent.
But di ethyl ether according to chemistry is not a pure non polar solvent,it has some amount of polarity,so efficacy in rendering an enveloped virus avirulent is low.
