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They are made of proteins and glycoproteins like cells are. They contain genetic information needed to produce more viruses in the form of DNA or RNA. They evolve to adapt to their hosts. So while it is doubtful viruses are truly alive, they are clearly very similar to living organisms.
Viruses resemble organisms because they can multiply. They are different because they are not alive: they are not cells, they do not use their own energy to grow or respond to their surroundings.
Nor do viruses have cells: they’re very small, much smaller than the cells of living things, and are basically just packages of nucleic acid and protein. Still, viruses have some important features in common with cell-based life.
All viruses contain nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA (but not both), and a protein coat, which encases the nucleic acid. Some viruses are also enclosed by an envelope of fat and protein molecules.
According to the information in the Venn diagram, the only structure or component that a virus and a cell have in common is nucleic acid. The virus lacks all the other cellular structures, and without them, it cannot exist, thrive, and reproduce on its own.
There are a number of similarities between viruses and cells. Both are too small to be seen with naked eyes and require a microscope for observation. Both contain genetic material, in the form of DNA and/or RNA. Both of them can replicate, that is, produce more organisms similar to themselves….
Viruses do, however, show some characteristics of living things. They are made of proteins and glycoproteins like cells are. They contain genetic information needed to produce more viruses in the form of DNA or RNA. They evolve to adapt to their hosts.
Viruses are not made out of cells, they can’t keep themselves in a stable state, they don’t grow, and they can’t make their own energy. Even though they definitely replicate and adapt to their environment, viruses are more like androids than real living organisms.
Nonliving characteristics include the fact that they are not cells, have no cytoplasm or cellular organelles, and carry out no metabolism on their own and therefore must replicate using the host cell’s metabolic machinery. Viruses can infect animals, plants, and even other microorganisms.
Similarities Between Bacteria and Viruses
Both viruses and bacteria can cause diseases. Both can be spread through coughing, sneezing, or coming into contact with contaminated surfaces, animals, items, or people. Both can possibly be treated with vaccines.
Most viruses have either RNA or DNA as their genetic material. The nucleic acid may be single- or double-stranded. The entire infectious virus particle, called a virion, consists of the nucleic acid and an outer shell of protein.
Viruses do not have cells. They have a protein coat that protects their genetic material (either DNA or RNA). But they do not have a cell membrane or other organelles (for example, ribosomes or mitochondria) that cells have. Living things reproduce.
Viruses have none of the machinery to carry out genetic instructions. Without such machinery, viruses simply exist as nonliving assemblages of molecules. Cells do have this machinery — it exists to carry out the cell’s own genetic instructions — and for this reason viruses must invade cells to proliferate.
Most notably, viruses differ from living organisms in that they cannot generate ATP. Viruses also do not possess the necessary machinery for translation, as mentioned above. They do not possess ribosomes and cannot independently form proteins from molecules of messenger RNA.
What does it mean to be ‘alive’? At a basic level, viruses are proteins and genetic material that survive and replicate within their environment, inside another life form. In the absence of their host, viruses are unable to replicate and many are unable to survive for long in the extracellular environment.
Viruses are not living things. Viruses are complicated assemblies of molecules, including proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and carbohydrates, but on their own they can do nothing until they enter a living cell. Without cells, viruses would not be able to multiply. Therefore, viruses are not living things.
According to the seven characteristics of life, all living beings must be able to respond to stimuli; grow over time; produce offspring; maintain a stable body temperature; metabolize energy; consist of one or more cells; and adapt to their environment.
How are viruses different from cells? They require a host in order to reproduce. They do not contain genetic material. They do not contain enzymes.
Viruses are tinier: the largest of them are smaller than the smallest bacteria. All they have is a protein coat and a core of genetic material, either RNA or DNA. Unlike bacteria, viruses can’t survive without a host. They can only reproduce by attaching themselves to cells.
They are unique because they are only alive and able to multiply inside the cells of other living things. The cell they multiply in is called the host cell. A virus is made up of a core of genetic material, either DNA or RNA, surrounded by a protective coat called a capsid which is made up of protein.
State which characteristics or properties viruses have in common with living organisms. The characteristics that viruses have common with living organisms are reproduction and heredity. They can only reproduce inside the host cell and they do have DNA or RNA.
Animal cells and plant cells share the common components of a nucleus, cytoplasm, mitochondria and a cell membrane. Plant cells have three extra components, a vacuole, chloroplast and a cell wall.
Four characteristics were to be used for the classification of all viruses: Type of the nucleic acid including size of the genome, strandedness (single or double), linear or circular, positive or negative (sense), segments (number and size), sequence and G+C content etc.
Viruses are classified by factors such as their core content, capsid structure, presence of outer envelope, and how mRNA is produced.
Viruses are infectious agents with both living and nonliving characteristics. Living characteristics of viruses include the ability to reproduce – but only in living host cells – and the ability to mutate.
Answer From Pritish K. Tosh, M.D. As you might think, bacterial infections are caused by bacteria, and viral infections are caused by viruses. Perhaps the most important distinction between bacteria and viruses is that antibiotic drugs usually kill bacteria, but they aren’t effective against viruses.
Function. The primary role of the virus or virion is to “deliver its DNA or RNA genome into the host cell so that the genome can be expressed (transcribed and translated) by the host cell,” according to “Medical Microbiology.” First, viruses need to access the inside of a host’s body.
Viral genomes are unusual because they can be based on RNA or DNA, in contrast to all cellular life forms, which have DNA as their genetic information. An unusual new virus has been discovered that appears to have sequences from both an RNA and a DNA virus.
Explanation: bacteria do not have a membrane-bound nucleus, and their genetic material is typically a single circular bacterial chromosome of DNA located in the cytoplasm in an irregularly shaped body called the nucleoid. The nucleoid contains the chromosome with its associated proteins and RNA.
This compartmentalization very much resembles that of the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. Packaging of the viral DNA takes place on the surface of the viral nucleus. Empty phage capsids form at the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane, then migrate to the compartment where they attach firmly to the surface.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWkNvIUthBI
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