WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRUS THAT MAKES SCIENTIST REGARD THEM AS BORDERLINE BETWEEN LIVING AND NON LIVING THINGS

A virus has a very simple composition. It has a protein sheath inside which there is a strand of DNA. A virus shows some properties akin to living organisms. However, unlike other organisms, they show some properties that are akin to non-living things. They can undergo crystallization and in that form, survive for billions of years. They can survive very high temperatures, freezing cold and ultra-violet radiation in space vacuum, in crystallized form.

Viruses are non-living microscopic particles that attack healthy cells within living things. They do not have the characteristics of living things and are not able to metabolize food. To metabolize means to change food energy into chemical energy that the body can use. Viruses are not alive, so they do not have a need for food like living oganisms. Viruses do not have an organized cell structure. They are so light that they can float in the air or water, be passed on to other organisims if touched, and fit anywhere. The virus injects its own DNA structure into healthy cells where new virus cells grow.  

 

Viruses do have all of the characteristics of living things. They consist of a protein coat which contains either DNA or RNA. They are not made of cells. They have no cellular structures. They do not require nutrients. They do not have metabolism. They do not grow or develop. They do not reproduce on their own. They must high-jack a living cell, inject it's genetic material, which then takes over the host cell which then becomes a virus factory. Eventually the cell becomes so full of replicated viruses that they burst, releasing the viruses so they can go on to attack other cells.