RNA Viruses

Definition

RNA viruses store their genetic material in RNA.

Examples

Some examples of RNA viruses are:

• HIV
• Coronaviruses
• Influenza

Mutation Rate

At $10^{-4} \ldots 10^{-6}$ mutations per base-pair, per site/replication, RNA mutation rate is on the order of 100-10,000 times higher than DNA mutation rate, which is (on average) $10^{-8}$ mutations per nucleotide site / replication. Intuitively, the higher mutation rate may be due to, single-stranded RNA, and enormous replication factors (“going viral”) combined with selective pressure for a passive virus to mutate.

Therefore, RNA viruses can be good at causing pandemics, as they can adapt to evolutionary pressure quite rapidly.