Eli5: what exactly is a virus and are viruses alive?
In: 130
what’s really going to bake your noodle later on is whether a prion is alive… A self-replicating protein that can kill you. It can survive disinfectants, it can survive boiling, it can survive on scapels and spread to patients via surgery.
The general structure of a virus includes: the viral genome (vRNA) within a protein capsid (basically a protein container). Some viruses also have a lipid envelope similar to, but slightly different than a cell membrane; however not all do. The capsid (&/or envalope) often has molecular functionality allowing the virus to infect its host (insert its vRNA). The viral genome then utilizes the host cell’s molecular machinery (enzymes, proteins, etc) to integrate &/or replicate itself.
The difference between a virus (not technically alive), and a “living” cell basically comes down to it’s inability to metabolize energy and replicate on it’s own. Viruses require the host cell’s metabolic activity and replication machinery (DNA polymerase, ribosomes, etc) in order to replicate it’s own genetic material, and produce new viral proteins to form new viral particles.
Incan think of three ways to look at “is a virus alive?”
The scientific way, which is where the “kind of alive kind of not” thing comes from. The other responses in this thread address this in more depth. I’ll summarize that it has half the building blocks of “life” so it falls in a gray area.
The philosophical interpretation. What does it mean to be alive? To have memories and experiences? Recognize yourself in a memory or have a sense of self? To have empathy and selflessness? It’s up to debate. Is a virus truly alive? What about a plant, or an insect? A dog? Are humans truly living or are they all a part of a predetermined illusion of life?
And a metaphorical interpretation. This is like personification. A virus, your robot vacuum, an F-15—you can say you killed any of those and it would make sense, so saying they’re still live targets is also valid.
Incan think of three ways to look at “is a virus alive?”
The scientific way, which is where the “kind of alive kind of not” thing comes from. The other responses in this thread address this in more depth. I’ll summarize that it has half the building blocks of “life” so it falls in a gray area.
The philosophical interpretation. What does it mean to be alive? To have memories and experiences? Recognize yourself in a memory or have a sense of self? To have empathy and selflessness? It’s up to debate. Is a virus truly alive? What about a plant, or an insect? A dog? Are humans truly living or are they all a part of a predetermined illusion of life?
And a metaphorical interpretation. This is like personification. A virus, your robot vacuum, an F-15—you can say you killed any of those and it would make sense, so saying they’re still live targets is also valid.
The general structure of a virus includes: the viral genome (vRNA) within a protein capsid (basically a protein container). Some viruses also have a lipid envelope similar to, but slightly different than a cell membrane; however not all do. The capsid (&/or envalope) often has molecular functionality allowing the virus to infect its host (insert its vRNA). The viral genome then utilizes the host cell’s molecular machinery (enzymes, proteins, etc) to integrate &/or replicate itself.
The difference between a virus (not technically alive), and a “living” cell basically comes down to it’s inability to metabolize energy and replicate on it’s own. Viruses require the host cell’s metabolic activity and replication machinery (DNA polymerase, ribosomes, etc) in order to replicate it’s own genetic material, and produce new viral proteins to form new viral particles.
The general structure of a virus includes: the viral genome (vRNA) within a protein capsid (basically a protein container). Some viruses also have a lipid envelope similar to, but slightly different than a cell membrane; however not all do. The capsid (&/or envalope) often has molecular functionality allowing the virus to infect its host (insert its vRNA). The viral genome then utilizes the host cell’s molecular machinery (enzymes, proteins, etc) to integrate &/or replicate itself.
The difference between a virus (not technically alive), and a “living” cell basically comes down to it’s inability to metabolize energy and replicate on it’s own. Viruses require the host cell’s metabolic activity and replication machinery (DNA polymerase, ribosomes, etc) in order to replicate it’s own genetic material, and produce new viral proteins to form new viral particles.
A virus is a strand of information that infects a host and causes the host to reproduce and spread that information. In the case of a biological virus, the information is DNA, but there are other kinds of viruses which exist in other media, such as memes and computer viruses.
There is some debate about if viruses are alive and I am firmly in the camp that they are not. A key element of being alive is processing the local environment to stay alive; You know: eating, drinking, breathing, photosynthesis, etc. Virus are fundamentally unable to do that even when they are in a biological media.
Viruses are right at the edge of what’s alive and what isn’t; arguing the toss is a somewhat sterile occupation. They’re basically a parcel of instructions and a few useful tools. They can’t reproduce on their own, but they’re biological and they can trick cells into producing more copies of them.
Somebody delivered an instruction manual in your door and you open it read it and changed the way you run your house that includes your printer. Somehow you printed more copies of the manual before the whole house is in disarray because of new rules and instructions it become dysfunctional and destroyed itself. Somehow the copies of the manual made it to the next few houses and repeats the process.
So I’m really stupid. Let’s try to explain: virus is sick 🤒 in body. It is dangerous if not treated with antibiotics or the right medication. Natural healing is not to be taken lightly. Hmm 🤔 did I pass?
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