:bacteria: & :virus:

[TomJoe]

Puh-leeze.

[TomJoe]

Could probably use this image for the virus (shrunk down and background removed).

[Crumb]

That bug looks nasty.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by TomJoe

Could probably use this image for the virus (shrunk down and background removed).

If you use that, make sure to call it a phage instead of a virus. Most viruses don't look like that.

And if you're going to do bacteria I demand seperate gram positive and gram negative ones. You can make the positive ones purple and the negative ones pink.

Matt

[livius drusus]

It looks like a robot to me. As for gram positive and gram negative, you scientician types be crazy.

[TomJoe]

Originally Posted by Matt

If you use that, make sure to call it a phage instead of a virus. Most viruses don't look like that.

Are bacteriophage viruses? Yes? Thankyouverymuch.

I could care less about human viruses. Meh.

[cappuccino]

I propose this virus which we all know and love for the job.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by TomJoe

Are bacteriophage viruses? Yes? Thankyouverymuch.

I could care less about human viruses. Meh.

They're viruses, but atypical representitives of viruses. cappuccino's HIV model is more apt.

[Crumb]

Looks like Cheerios stuck to a giant d20 Capp.

[TomJoe]

Originally Posted by Matt

They're viruses, but atypical representitives of viruses. cappuccino's HIV model is more apt.

... of retroviruses perhaps. But the Filoviridae (ebola & marburg) certainly don't look like that.

[fragment]

Sheesh, do we need one for each different type of virus? How many would that be?

[TomJoe]

Originally Posted by fragment

Sheesh, do we need one for each different type of virus? How many would that be?

Depends, are we including plant viruses?

[Matt]

I was referring to the basic structure: Nucleic Acid, Capsid, and sometimes envelope.

Matt

[fragment]

Originally Posted by TomJoe

Depends, are we including plant viruses?

Bring 'em on.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by fragment

Sheesh, do we need one for each different type of virus? How many would that be?

Not.

[But]

Originally Posted by Matt

Most viruses don't look like that.

Most viruses are phages.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by But

Most viruses are phages.

What? In pure quantity? Most viral "species" aren't phages.

[But]

Originally Posted by Matt

What? In pure quantity?

Yep.

[Shake]

Sheesh. Where's Roland when you need her?

[Kevlar]

How about this for the virus

[livius drusus]

Okay, this is how special requests work with me. Sometimes as soon as I read one my mental rolodex knows just where to take me; then it's just a matter of cajoling permission and uploading. Sometimes Google Images hooks me right up.

Much of the time I know there isn't anything even remotely decent to be found and there's no way I'm good enough to do it justice, so I keep in on simmer while I go about my bidness until I find the artist best suited to the task.

That happened a few days ago with this particular request. So with thanks to TomJoe for doing the research, and to Adsero, whose talent in minute pixel art is frankly jaw-dropping, please welcome:

[Legs]

All make me want to have a hot shower with antibacterial soap.. good job Adsero!

and liv

[viscousmemories]

Excellent work.

[ceptimus]

Well drawn. The bacterium looks a bit like E. coli. The tail (flagellum) is a true rotating motor - it spins at around 15,000 rpm counter-clockwise to make E. coli swim forwards. To change direction, E. coli spins it the other way.

If evolution had been able to scale up this rotating motor, we might have wheels instead of legs. This would be handy for getting around quickly on smooth surfaces, but probably not much good for anything else.

[livius drusus]

Our model for the default bacterium was Pseudomonas, but the bacillus is E. coli. I went back and forth like a true rotating motor on whether to make it the default, but in the end the flagellum's cuteness totally won me over.