Argumentative Essay: Are Viruses Living?

To consider something as living there are a few requirements it must fulfil such as to grow, reproduce, respond to stimuli, adapt to their own environment, made from cells and can use and gain energy1. Viruses have only recently been considered as a contender for being classed as a living organism as they have played a major part in the evolution of all cells2 which shows that viruses must have contained some of the early key components that ancient cells possessed. RNA genomes were present before the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) as ancient cells had them as well as viruses, so viruses probably originated before other cells. However, some scientists have said there is an area between living and

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

Viruses are a small infectious agent that can only multiply inside the cells of living organisms although unlike bacteria, fungi and parasites viruses are not

Overall, viruses are not alive since they rely on other living cells to survive. Most characteristics of living organisms cannot be applied to viruses. With the discovery of the mimivirus, it could be possible that viruses at one point were considered living until they evolved into the viruses they are today. However, discoveries about viruses might yet not be fully discovered or understood and they might evolve again in the

Viruses are known as intracellular parasites, and they invade host cells. When they invade, they live inside the cell Daempfle, 2016). Viruses are not living organisms. Viruses sit and wait to be introduced to a host cell. Once they are introduced, they invade into the cell’s nucleus and become energized. Therefore, viruses can not carry out life functions, while outside of a host cell. Nevertheless, viruses are not non-living matter and viruses have genetic material, they make proteins, they mutate, and are able to reproduce. Viruses are most commonly species specific. This means that only one type of virus will infect one type of cell host. It has been deduced by scientists that viruses use the docking system to attach to host cells. However,

It is often argued whether viruses are living or not. Those who don’t believe that viruses are living generally base their opinion off of the fact that they do not follow the basic definition of “life”. They do not carry out life-sustaining functions on their own like normal organisms. On the other side of the argument, some believe that viruses are in fact, living beings, which is where I rest my opinion.

There Is another view that contends viruses as living entities. In 2009 David Moreira & Purificacion Lopez Garcia wrote an entry about the reasons why viruses should not be inducted into the tree of life. The main support of their claim is that viruses do not meet the criteria that defines life. Viruses have the same molecular composition as cells: mainly nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and complex sugars() . In the past this similarity has led scientists to believe that viruses were alive. For many years’ viruses were thought to be the “missing link” (Moreira & Lopez) between the “non-living and the first cells” (Moreira & Lopez). With the discovery of DNA encoding came a theory and definition for what defines life. The theory was based on the fact that all living entities have DNA and evolve. Under these criteria viruses were considered to be living because we know they contain DNA and there has been considerable research showing the ancestral lineage of viruses. This theory survived for many years as the most widely accepted way to describe life. This theory was put to rest in the year 2000 when the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses officially concluded that viruses are not alive. This view is still held by many scientists

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:

Unlike bacteria, that have everything it needs to reproduce, viruses need to use a living cell's organelles in order to replicate.

The biological significance of this article is due in part to the fact that viruses are being considered as partway-living things. Even though they are only halfway living, per se, they are still an important part of the study of living things because of the unique way in which they “live” and continue to reproduce by taking advantage of host cells. The information in this article relates to biologists in that viruses provide an entirely different element of potential life, as they are a cause for reconsideration when it comes to defining and determining life and non-life forms. This

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.

A virus is a capsule containing genetic material, even smaller than bacteria. The main task of virus is to reproduce. However, viruses need a suitable host to

No, a virus is not a cell because it does not have a plasma membrane, chromosomes, or ribosome (Chivukula,2015). All of these must be present to be considered a cell.

Viruses are microscopic organisms that can only replicate inside cells of the host organism. Viruses for the most part are so small you would have to use a conventional optical microscope. Viruses can infect any and all types of organisms, such as animals (to include Humans), plants and even bacteria as well as archaea (archaea constitutes a domain or kingdom of single-celled microorganisms). There are millions of different types of viruses. With viruses being believed to be the most abundant type of biological entity, they can be virtually found in every ecosystem on the planet.

Hanta virus like all other viri are some of the smallest organisms known to man. Their existence as living organisms is debated. Viri perform only the most basic functions of life. They seek