Copy - Copy - Term Project Viruses Vs. Bacteria BIOL 0100 Pittman

Term Project Viruses Vs. BacteriaClass BIOL 100 Drury University By Heather Pittman

Title Page

Should Viruses Be Categorized as Living?

What is the Origin of Life? According to the article, Biochemistry of Living Organisms: The Genesis, it says, “Life, even though may be vast in definition, can basically be defined as the ability of something to live. Hence living things therefore posses certain characteristics which are fundamental for their existence. This includes though not exclusive, the ability to grow and reproduce, are sensitive to stimuli, have the ability to regulate their activities and maintain relatively constant internal conditions etc” (Godwill 2016).

In the article, Defining Life: The Virus Viewpoint says, “Times are changing and viruses, once only considered as a side-products of cellular evolution, are now at the center of many debates on the early evolution of life on our planet” (Forterre 2010).

"Why historically have viruses been categorized as non-living?"

• In the article, A place for viruses on the tree of life it says, “Conceptually, viruses are regarded by many as non-living entities that hijack living cells in order to propagate. A strict separation between living and non-living entities places viruses far from the ToL,” (Harris and Hill 2021).

• In the article referenced above ToL, stands for “Tree of Life”. It seems like there was a major belief that viruses were not living. It was until just recently that people began to disagree with this theory even more so. The belief used to be that the viruses attacked the human host, however, was not living being a separate entity.

"What are viruses?"

• The article called Viruses: definition, structure, classification it says, “Viuses are infectious units with diameters of about 16 nm (circoviruses) to over 300 nm (poxviruses; Table 2.1). Their small size makes them ultrafilterable, i.e. they are not retained by bacteria-proof filters. Viruses have evolved over millions of years, and have adapted to specific organisms of their cells” (Modrow, et al. 2013).

• The description of a virus is an agent that is infectious and contains nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat and is difficult to see even by light microscopy. A virus grows by having a host that has living cells. Viruses are easily picked up in public areas on services and droplets. While Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and using good hygiene can reduce the spread of viruses it isn’t 100% effective.

Work Cited

Forterre, Patrick. “Defining life: the virus viewpoint. “Origins of Life and Evolution Biospheres 40 (2010): 151-160.

Godwill, Engwa Azeh. “Biochemistry of Living Organisms: The Genesis.” Basic Biochemistry 5.1 (20160: 1-22.

Harris, Hugh MB, and Colin Hill. “A place for viruses on the tree of life.” Frontiers in Microbiology 11 (2021): 604048.

Modrow, Susanne, et al. “Viruses: definition, structure, classification.” Molecular Virology (2013): 17.