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Vector (biology)
 
 
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In epidemiology
Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine....
, a vector is an organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
 that does not cause disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
 itself but that transmits infection
Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
 by conveying pathogen
Pathogen

A pathogen , infectious agent, or germ, is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its Host .There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring...
s from one host
Host (biology)

In biology, a host is an organism that harbors a virus or parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter....
 to another, serving as a route of transmission
Transmission (medicine)

In medicine, transmission is the passing of a disease from an infected individual or group to a previously uninfected individual or group.The microorganisms that cause disease may be transmitted from one person to another by one or more of the following means:...
.

A classic example is the anopheles mosquito
Anopheles

Anopheles is a genus of mosquito . There are approximately 460 recognised species: while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30-40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium that cause malaria which affects humans in endemic areas....
, which acts as a vector for the disease malaria
Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
 by transmitting the malarial parasite plasmodium
Plasmodium

Plasmodium is a genus of parasitic protozoa. Infection with these parasites is known as malaria. The genus Plasmodium was created in 1885 by Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli....
 to Humans. In this case plasmodium is harmless to the mosquito (its intermediate host) but causes the disease malaria in Humans (its definitive host).

In molecular biology
Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecule level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry....
 and genetic engineering
Genetic engineering

Engineering There are a number of ways through which genetic engineering is accomplished. Essentially, the process has five main steps# Isolation of the genes of interest...
, a vector is a vehicle for transferring genetic material into a cell.

A viral vector
Viral vector

Viral vectors are a tool commonly used by molecular biologists to deliver genetic material into cell s. This process can be performed inside a living organism or in cell culture ....
 is a virus that has been modified to transduct
Transduction (genetics)

Transduction is the process by which DNA is transferred from one bacterium to another by a virus. It also refers to the process whereby foreign DNA is introduced into another cell via a viral vector....
 specific genetic material into a cell, e.g., for gene therapy
Gene therapy

Gene therapy is the insertion of genes into an individual's cell and Biological tissues to treat a disease, such as a hereditary disease in which a deleterious mutant allele is replaced with a functional one....
.

A plasmid vector
Plasmid

File:plasmid .svgA plasmid is an extra-chromosomal DNA molecule separate from the chromosome which is capable of replicating independently of the chromosomal DNA....
 is made by splicing a DNA construct
DNA construct

A DNA construct is an artificially constructed segment of nucleic acid that is going to be "transplanted" into a target Biological tissue or Cell ....
 into a plasmid
Plasmid

File:plasmid .svgA plasmid is an extra-chromosomal DNA molecule separate from the chromosome which is capable of replicating independently of the chromosomal DNA....
.






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Encyclopedia


In epidemiology
Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine....
, a vector is an organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
 that does not cause disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
 itself but that transmits infection
Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
 by conveying pathogen
Pathogen

A pathogen , infectious agent, or germ, is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its Host .There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring...
s from one host
Host (biology)

In biology, a host is an organism that harbors a virus or parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter....
 to another, serving as a route of transmission
Transmission (medicine)

In medicine, transmission is the passing of a disease from an infected individual or group to a previously uninfected individual or group.The microorganisms that cause disease may be transmitted from one person to another by one or more of the following means:...
.

A classic example is the anopheles mosquito
Anopheles

Anopheles is a genus of mosquito . There are approximately 460 recognised species: while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30-40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium that cause malaria which affects humans in endemic areas....
, which acts as a vector for the disease malaria
Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
 by transmitting the malarial parasite plasmodium
Plasmodium

Plasmodium is a genus of parasitic protozoa. Infection with these parasites is known as malaria. The genus Plasmodium was created in 1885 by Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli....
 to Humans. In this case plasmodium is harmless to the mosquito (its intermediate host) but causes the disease malaria in Humans (its definitive host).

In molecular biology
Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecule level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry....
 and genetic engineering
Genetic engineering

Engineering There are a number of ways through which genetic engineering is accomplished. Essentially, the process has five main steps# Isolation of the genes of interest...
, a vector is a vehicle for transferring genetic material into a cell.

A viral vector
Viral vector

Viral vectors are a tool commonly used by molecular biologists to deliver genetic material into cell s. This process can be performed inside a living organism or in cell culture ....
 is a virus that has been modified to transduct
Transduction (genetics)

Transduction is the process by which DNA is transferred from one bacterium to another by a virus. It also refers to the process whereby foreign DNA is introduced into another cell via a viral vector....
 specific genetic material into a cell, e.g., for gene therapy
Gene therapy

Gene therapy is the insertion of genes into an individual's cell and Biological tissues to treat a disease, such as a hereditary disease in which a deleterious mutant allele is replaced with a functional one....
.

A plasmid vector
Plasmid

File:plasmid .svgA plasmid is an extra-chromosomal DNA molecule separate from the chromosome which is capable of replicating independently of the chromosomal DNA....
 is made by splicing a DNA construct
DNA construct

A DNA construct is an artificially constructed segment of nucleic acid that is going to be "transplanted" into a target Biological tissue or Cell ....
 into a plasmid
Plasmid

File:plasmid .svgA plasmid is an extra-chromosomal DNA molecule separate from the chromosome which is capable of replicating independently of the chromosomal DNA....
. Various techniques are then used to transfect
Transfection

Transfection is the process of introducing nucleic acids into cells by non-viral methods . The term transformation is preferred to describe non-viral DNA transfer in bacteria and non-animal eukaryotic cells such as fungus, algae and plants....
 the plasmid into the cell.

The transmission of a disease from animal to Human is known as zoonosis
Zoonosis

A zoonosis or zoonose is any infectious disease that is able to be transmitted from other animals, both wild and domestic, to humans or from humans to animals ....
.

Epidemiology

There are two types of vector that convey infectious organisms to a host: mechanical and biological. Microbes do not multiply within mechanical vectors: Mechanical vectors just physically transport microbes from host to host, whereas, within the biological vector, the microbes propagate before the biological vector can transmit the microbes.

  • mosquito
    Mosquito

    Mosquitoes are common flying insects in the family Culicidae that are found around the world. There are about 3,500 species. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and six long legs....
     (malaria, St. Louis encephalitis
    St. Louis Encephalitis

    St. Louis Encephalitis is a disease caused by the mosquito borne St. Louis Encephalitis virus. St. Louis encephalitis virus is related to Japanese encephalitis virus....
    , dengue fever
    Dengue fever

    Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever are acute fever tropical diseases, found in the tropics and Africa, and caused by four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae....
    , yellow fever
    Yellow fever

    Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....
    , West Nile virus
    West Nile virus

    West Nile virus is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropics and temperate regions....
    )
  • flea
    Flea

    Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
     (bubonic plague
    Bubonic plague

    Plague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the Enterobacteriaceae Yersinia pestis . Plague is a zoonotic, primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas....
    )
  • sand flies
    Phlebotominae

    Members of the subfamily Phlebotominae are known outside of the United States by the name sand fly. This subfamily includes numerous genera of blood-feeding flies, including the primary vectors of leishmaniasis, sandfly fever....
     (leishmaniasis
    Leishmaniasis

    Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly ....
    )
  • tick
    Tick

    Tick is the common name for the small arachnids in superfamily Ixodoidea that, along with other mites, constitute the Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and occasionally reptiles and amphibians....
     (Lyme disease
    Lyme disease

    Lyme disease, or borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia....
    , rocky mountain spotted fever
    Rocky Mountain spotted fever

    Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most lethal and most frequently reported rickettsial illness in the United States. It has been diagnosed throughout the Americas....
    , tick-borne encephalitis
    Tick-borne meningoencephalitis

    Tick-borne meningoencephalitis or Tick-borne encephalitis is a tick-borne disease viral infection of the central nervous system affecting humans as well as most other mammals....
    )
  • deer mouse (hantavirus
    Hantavirus

    Hantaviruses belong to the Bunyaviridae family of viruses. There Bunyaviridae family is divided into 5 genera: Orthobunyavirus, Nairovirus, Phlebovirus, Tospovirus, and Hantavirus....
    )
  • kissing bug (Triatominae
    Triatominae

    The members of Triatominae , a subfamily of Reduviidae, are also known as conenose bugs, kissing bugs, assassin bugs or triatomines....
    ) (Chagas Disease
    Chagas disease

    'Chagas disease' is a tropical disease parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect Vector , the hematophagy assassin bugs of the subfamily Triatominae most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius, and Panstrongy...
    )
  • bat
    Bat

    Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera. The forelimbs of all bats are developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of sustained flight ....
     (Rabies
    Rabies

    Rabies is a virus zoonotic neurotropic virus disease that causes acute encephalitis in mammals. It is most commonly caused by a bite from an infected animal, but occasionally by other forms of contact....
    )


Molecular biology


Cell transformation and gene therapy

  • adenovirus
  • adeno-associated virus
    Adeno-associated virus

    Adeno-associated virus is a small virus which infects humans and some other primate species. AAV is not currently known to cause disease and consequently the virus causes a very mild immune response....
  • tobacco mosaic virus
    Tobacco mosaic virus

    Tobacco mosaic virus is an RNA virus that infects plants, especially tobacco and other members of the family Solanaceae. The infection causes characteristic patterns on the Leaf ....
     (plants)
  • cytomegalovirus
    Cytomegalovirus

    Cytomegalovirus is a Virus genus of the Herpesviridae group: in humans it is commonly known as HCMV or Human Herpesvirus 5 . CMV belongs to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily of Herpesviridae, which also includes Roseolovirus....
  • bacteriophage
    Bacteriophage

    A bacteriophage is any one of a number of viruses that infection bacteria. The term is commonly used in its shortened form, phage.Typically, bacteriophages consist of an outer protein hull enclosing genetic material....
     (bacteria)
  • viral vector
    Viral vector

    Viral vectors are a tool commonly used by molecular biologists to deliver genetic material into cell s. This process can be performed inside a living organism or in cell culture ....


DNA


  • SV40
    SV40

    SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans....
     (Simian virus 40)
  • Plasmid
    Plasmid

    File:plasmid .svgA plasmid is an extra-chromosomal DNA molecule separate from the chromosome which is capable of replicating independently of the chromosomal DNA....
  • Yeast artificial chromosome
    Yeast artificial chromosome

    A yeast artificial chromosome is a vector used to cloning large DNA fragments . It is an artificially constructed chromosome and contains the telomeric, centromeric, and origin of replication sequences needed for replication and preservation in yeast cells....
     (Chromosome walking, Positional cloning)
  • Bacterial artificial chromosome
    Bacterial artificial chromosome

    A 'bacterial artificial chromosome ' is a DNA construct, based on a fertility plasmid , used for Transformation and cloning in bacterium, usually E....
     (Shotgun sequencing
    Shotgun sequencing

    In genetics, shotgun sequencing, also known as shotgun cloning, is a method used for sequencing long DNA strands. It is named by analogy with the rapidly-expanding, quasi-random firing pattern of a shotgun....
    )


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