Eli5: what exactly is a virus and are viruses alive?
In: 130
A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside living cells. It consists of genetic material (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. Whether or not viruses are alive is a matter of debate among scientists, as they do not meet all the criteria of living organisms.
A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside living cells. It consists of genetic material (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. Whether or not viruses are alive is a matter of debate among scientists, as they do not meet all the criteria of living organisms.
A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside living cells. It consists of genetic material (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. Whether or not viruses are alive is a matter of debate among scientists, as they do not meet all the criteria of living organisms.
Ok but where did viruses come from in the first place? Why is there a random piece of RNA lying around?
Ok but where did viruses come from in the first place? Why is there a random piece of RNA lying around?
Ok but where did viruses come from in the first place? Why is there a random piece of RNA lying around?
No, not alive because they can not reproduce on their own. Simply put they are a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. That’s about it in simplest terms.
No, not alive because they can not reproduce on their own. Simply put they are a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. That’s about it in simplest terms.
No, not alive because they can not reproduce on their own. Simply put they are a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. That’s about it in simplest terms.
Basically a protein with self-replication instructions that doesn’t have the tools to actually perform that self replication that finds a cell to latch onto to use the cell’s self replication tools for its own replication.
As for whether you can call them “alive” that’s entirely a gray area. The only aspect of the definition of a living thing that a virus doesn’t fit is that it can’t self replicate, it needs something else to perform its replication for it. It fits every other criteria for a living thing.
Does that one distinction make it technically not considered alive? Sure, technically yeah, but is that one distinction enough to REALLY say it’s actually not alive?
Life is kind of a nebulous thing, and applying that same standard of it not fully fitting the definition would also make sterile people technically not living things, so the answer for that question is kind of a big question mark.
Latest Answers