Characteristics of a virus & living or non living organism?!


Question: Characteristics of a virus & living or non living organism!?
could you tell me the all characteristics and why it is not a living organisms and back it up!.!.!. thank you

here's the charateristics of a living organism!.!.!.
1!. Reproduce; all organisms can copy themselves if they are only one cell in size or can copy the DNA (the genetic material) to a cell that can grown into a complete organism!.

2!. Grow; growing is just a single cell reproducing or copying itself by the process of mitosis!. The whole organism grows by adding cells through this process!.

3!. Have cells; their life material is assembled in little organized units built mostly out of proteins!.

4!. Have DNA; this genetic material is a chemical code which assembles chemicals to make the proteins that your cells are made of!. The DNA molecule can also copy itself, making growth and reproduction possible!.

5!. Need energy; all organisms need energy for all life activities!. Even thinking requires a considerable amount of energy!. Plants get energy through photosynthesis, and animals get energy from cellular respiration!.

6!. React to their environment; all organisms can sense their environment and react to it!. Even a tree grows up while the roots grow down!. And leaves always grow toward the light!.

7!. Carry out homeostasis (maintain a constant internal environment); even though the environment around a cell can change a lot (example: hot to cold), the inside of the cell needs to stay the same!. Keeping a constant internal environment is called homeostasis!. For example, when you exercise, your body heats up!. You then sweat to cool down to get the cell environment back to normal!.

if your not positive of the answer please tell me!.!.!. thank you!.Www@Answer-Health@Com


Answers:
Based on your definition of life given above, a virus would not be alive since a virus, on it's own, does not meet all of the criteria listed above!. As I am sure you well know, this is a subject of debate amongst scientists!. Here are some points to consider when determining if they fit your definition of life!.

1) A virus is not cellular!. It is simply composed of a nucleic acid core surrounded by a protein coat (capsid)!. This in itself eliminates a virus from being alive given the above stated definition!.

2) Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells contain both DNA and RNA!. Individual virus particles contain only one kind of nucleic acid; either DNA or RNA but never both!.(1)

3) Viral replication requires a virus to infect a host cell and program the host cells machinery to synthesize the components required for assembly of a new virus!. Cells grow and divide!. Viruses must infect the host cell, uncoat their genetic material, then use the host's machinery to transcribe the viral genetic material and the virus must use the host cells ribosomes for viral replication metabolism!.

Given your posted definition of life, a virus falls short!. However many scientists say since a virus cannot reproduce or metabolize or perform metabolic functions on their own they are not alive!. The argument to that is that since viruses do carry genetic information for replication, and that this information is active after infection, viruses are alive!.

Living or not is still an opinion based on an individuals definition of life!. Many consider viruses "near-living"!. To me!.!.!."near-living" is not living!. Www@Answer-Health@Com

Several very good answers already!. This is why I say it's actually a good thing for the skeptics and educated to hang out in this room and get our thumbs down for rational evidence based answers!.
Eventually, some of the knowledge may help someone realize that something like homeopathy is ridiculous nonsense!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

Viruses neither have cells, need energy, grow, carry out homeostasis or react to their environment!. To do any of these functions, they must invade and hijack an existing bacterial or eukaryotic cell!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

yes!!Www@Answer-Health@Com

All living things are made of cells!.
All cells have a cell membrane!.
Viruses have no cell membrane!.
Therefore viruses are not cells and viruses are not living things!.


All living things are capable of self-replication!.
Viruses are not capable of self-replication (they use the machinery of cells to replicate their genome)
Therefore viruses are not living things!.

All living things carry out metabolic processes!.
Viruses are static and incapable of carrying out metabolic processes!.
Therefore, viruses are not living things!.

I think this is sufficient in showing why we can say that viruses are not living things!. Now I have one for you, is a dormant plant seed a living thing or a nonliving thing!? Use the criteria you've established and decide!.Www@Answer-Health@Com





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