Are Viruses Alive?

The question was asked are viruses living or nonliving. Well after reading the first five pages of my biology book, I learned that there are six things that every scientist agrees with. Scientist agree with the fact that organisms contain levels of organization, the ability to acquire materials and energy, maintain an internal environment, respond to stimuli, the ability to reproduce and develop, and the ability to adapt and evolve to changing conditions. After finding out a little about each one of these ideas that scientist agree with, I have come to the conclusion that viruses are living things.

By definition a virus is a “microscopic organism that can replicate... inside the cells of a host organism” (Hogan, 2012). Believe it or not, sixty percent of scientific research supports the argument that viruses are not living. Forty percent of research states and supports the idea that viruses are living organisms.

In general, viruses are a distinct group comparing to others. Viruses have similar characteristic as a living organism, but it also lack some of the element that a living organism have. Viruses are a hereditary material that may be single strand genome, or other may contain a double strand genome which is ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid. Viruses are very small species, when a virus is not in contact with a cell, it is just a protein that contains a genome. In the other hand, when it is in contact with a cell, it will requires help from the cells that have been inserted into to duplicates itself. I agree that viruses are considered not living organisms because they can not do many functions by themselves without entering a cell.

After looking at many articles I believe that viruses are not alive. Even though in the beginning I believed they were. For an object to be alive it needs to have certain characteristics such as being able to: grow, develop, have a purpose, reproduce, adapt, and have cells. A living thing could reproduce which means they would make offspring. Viruses don't have the ability to grow and develop on their own. Viruses don’t have the ability to reproduce on their own without the help of a keeper

A virus is an infecting agent. Viruses are non-living they need a living host, a living organism to replicate themselves. When it invades a cell it will implant their code that is capable of copying itself. This will cause a detrimental effect, corrupting the system ti its advantage or complete destruction.

1. In the 19th century researchers realized that some diseases such as hand foot mouth and also rabies were caused by particles that acted like bacteria. Which means virus's are alive because the particles would need t be alive to still contaminate people.

In “Study Adds to Evidence that Viruses are Alive,” Professor Caetano-Anolles and his members argues that viruses are considered to be alive due to the founding of new evidences that support about it. They did a research and experiment to prove their claim. Others say that viruses are not “alive” because they lack many of the properties that scientists associate with living organisms. That they don’t have their own machinery for reproducing and they can only take over the machinery of cells, turning them into virus factories. Caetano-Anolles argues that viruses are alive, they used logos to support and give evidences to their claims. They argued that viruses are alive through their shapes and sizes, genetic structure and the means of their reproducing.

Since viruses were first discovered in 1892, there has been an ongoing debate of whether or not a virus can be classified as living organisms. A virus is composed of two simple components: a genome and a protein coat to protect this genome, and they are known to infect living host cells to replicate. From this definition, it does not define either the possibility of whether or not that a virus is alive. It gives the structure and function of the virus, but not the general rules that are needed to be met when an organism is considered alive. Some scientists believe that the discovery of the mimivirus prompts that all viruses are alive. Others claim that the mimivirus is an anomaly and does not relate to the general aspects of viruses. Viruses

After researching this controversial question, I have come to the conclusion that viruses should be considered dead. My rationale is due to the simple fact that in order for something to be considered living, it needs to have the essential characteristics of life. These characteristics include growth, homeostasis, and the ability to reproduce as outlined below:

Viruses can replicate themselves but only within a host cell in which they hijack as they do not own any translational machinery, so it is unable to create new RNA or DNA fragments or create a new set of virions5. In the first stages of viral replication the virus will attach itself onto a host cell via the glycoprotein spikes which eject off the capsid – this is called adorption6. The virion will then transfer its genomic material whether its RNA or DNA into the host cell via penetration of plasma membranes and this occurs through receptors binding to receptor sites and activating a chain of reactions6,7. The virus will the inject its own genomic material into the host cell which causes the host cell to use its replication techniques to replicate the foreign genome meaning its expressed by the host cell – hijacking the cell6. The genomic material that is now in the cell will be replicated as the cell is infected and will express these new characteristics of the virus instead of being able to carry out its own job. The newly produced proteins and enzymes will now mature within the host cell and group together to form new virions and viruses. After these are fully matured the enzymes produced will catalyse the cell membrane of cells and allows the newly produced viruses to be released into the extracellular environment6. This process of replication is also the way in which viruses adapt to their environments another component of being classed ‘alive’ because they

Personally, I believe that there cannot be a present scientific answer, but a philosophical answer. First, there are a few things I would like to point out on which the author of the article is wrong. According to Science Line , viruses are considered to be non living. It says that, “Primarily, they lack the ability to reproduce without the aid of a host cell, and don't use the typical cell- division approach to replication.” That means that there is no present gray area, and the main consensus says that they are non living. In the article, it says that, “[Viruses] May be destroyed… viruses resemble seeds more than the do living cells.(103)” That entire statement is false. According to Dr. Mikhail Grinberg, viruses are, “Generally incurable, but

If there isn’t prove to say that viruses have a cell organization, then it is not a living thing. This characteristic is the most important to identify whether or not something is a nonliving or living

Viruses are in fact not alive. As the author in Are Viruses Alive states " They {viruses} have a certain potential, which can be snuffed out, but they do not attain the more autonomous state of life". Though they do have the 6 out of 7 characteristics I feel that they still do not qualify as a living organism because they carry on no independent metabolic or respiratory functions and cannot "live" until inserted into a host cell to begin their biological activities. Also they consist of a protein coat which contains either DNA or RNA. They are not made of cells. They have no cellular structures. They do not obtain homeostasis or evolve. Finally the genetic material of a viruses has to combine with a living cell to reproduce its like having

In this regard, viruses increase genetic diversity among organisms via horizontal gene transfer, and therefore contribute to evolution1. The most common methods for viral multiplication are known as lytic and lysogenic cycles; in the lytic cycle, the host cell immediately begins replicating the viral nucleic acid, and the copied genetic materials are translated inside the cell. The capsids are assembled, genetic material is repackaged inside the virus, and eventually the host cell bursts as the viral load inside becomes overwhelming. In the lysogenic cycle, the viral nucleic acid is incorporated into the host cell genome and remains inactive inside for an extended period. At some point, the viral genome activates, and viral multiplication occurs as in the lytic

Viruses are a gray area to scientists. Are they living, or non-living? Viruses resemble seeds in the way that they carry the potential for life, but “they do not attain the more autonomous state of life” (Are Viruses Alive, Villarreal, Luis P). Viruses are living because they share similar traits to living organisms and they accomplish tasks that non-living things cannot.