Question

We know viruses are not alive because they?

Answer 1

viruses are very much alive they grow multiply have genetic information in rna and dna ....
prions on other hand are proteinacious infectious material which dont contain genetic material..are they alive by definition i dont know

Answer 2

They do not have homeostasis, the also lack organelles, and a cell membrane. What @shawn123 is incorrect.

Answer 3

viruses don't grow, they invade cells and "hijack" the organism's "hardware" for replication and make many copies of themselves.

Answer 4

This may help: http://is.gd/VAvTal & http://is.gd/mryE4K

Answer 5

whatis importance of homeostasis in a single celled organism?viuses have envelops not cell membrane.yes they are derived from host but it contains some viral elements.can u call that a host cell?its a viral cell infection product which wouldnt have existed without virus.

the question was whether viruses wa live wasnt it?

Answer 6

@agreene what do u think a virus is?

Answer 7

Virus growth

Viruses make new viruses while infecting cells.
No increase in mass component:
Unlike cellular microorganisms, virus growth cannot be distinguished into increase in mass and increase in number aspects.
Instead, viruses are assembled from component parts into mature or nearly mature virions.

Answer 8

@shawn123 as you mentioned, a virus is either DNA or RNA enclosed in a protein coat. All of the things I listed are what are generally agreed upon as being required for the definition of life. No matter the specific definition you choose, there is no biologist alive that would say a virus is a living organism.

Answer 9

http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/tutorial/virwhat.html#concept

Answer 10

xFor about 100 years, the scientific community has repeatedly changed its collective mind over what viruses are. First seen as poisons, then as life-forms, then biological chemicals, viruses today are thought of as being in a gray area between living and nonliving: they cannot replicate on their own but can do so in truly living cells and can also affect the behavior of their hosts profoundly. The seemingly simple question of whether or not viruses are alive, which my students often ask, has probably defied a simple answer all these years because it raises a fundamental issue: What exactly defines "life?"

Answer 11

z http://serc.carleton.edu/resources/13945.html

Answer 12

anyway useless question.....we have to deal with viruses whether they exactly fit to "living " definition or not....