Are viruses living or nonliving
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Are viruses living or nonliving

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 12-08-27] [Hit: ]
They use energy (more specifically, products of their genetic information utilise non-endogenous energy) but all the energy they use is derived solely from their host.Do they respond to homoeostasis? That doesnt make sense. The expression of their genetic information or their virulence or ability to enter cells etc are dependent on the HOSTS environment. Changes in the hosts environment (acting against homeostasis i.......
i have this biology report and i have the answers to these questions i just want to know if I'm right.
Are viruses made up of cells?
Do they have the ability to reproduce?
Do they grow and develop?
Do they obtain and use energy?
Do they respond to homeostasis?
Are they made up of the same building blocks?
Do they evolve?
First to answer those 7 questions and at least one source gets 10 points :)

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Viruses are not made up of cells.

They do NOT have the capacity to reproduce in and of themselves: they need a host.

Grow and develop? Not in the sense that we grow and develop but their capsids self-assemble, and their genomes mutate over time (like all genetic information). So kind of; but grow and develop is not the correct terminology here.

They use energy (more specifically, products of their genetic information utilise non-endogenous energy) but all the energy they use is derived solely from their host.

Do they respond to homoeostasis? That doesn't make sense. The expression of their genetic information or their virulence or ability to enter cells etc are dependent on the HOST'S environment. Changes in the host's environment (acting against homeostasis i.e. changes in pH etc) will affect how well the virus is able to do those things I've just mentioned.

There are many different types of viruses, there is a lot of diversity. Some have membranes, some don't. Some contain an icosahedral capsid whilst others have helical structures. Generally though, any one virus will contain the same 'building blocks'.

They most certainly do evolve. Anything which imperfectly replicates it's genome evolves.

EDIT: @emily, viruses can contain DNA or RNA. Herpes simplex virus contains dsDNA (double stranded DNA) and HIV contains ssRNA (single stranded RNA). Others have circular genomes...

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No, viruses are not made of cells. They are made of molecules.
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