Discuss whether or not a virus is a living organism. ?

Question

Discuss whether or not a virus is a living organism. ?

Answer 1

Viruses are not living organisms because they are merely pieces of DNA that do not exhibit the characteristics of living organisms which include: being made of cells, obtaining and using energy, growing and developing, reproducing, responding to stimuli, and finally adaptong to their environment. In fact you can create a virus in vitro (in test tube) by mixing the exact amount of nucleotides (A,T,C,G) that make a specific virus and give it a shake. the nucleotides will assemble spontaneously to that virus..  

Answer 2

Viruses are usually not considered to be organisms because they cannot reproduce on their own, however some parasites cannot either. Viruses rely too much on the host for them to be considered organisms imo, despite the fact they have their own genes and evolve.

Answer 3

virus link between non living & living  cuz they reproduce like living things & like non living thing they also exist in the form of crystals.  

Answer 4

Even though it has a core of nucleic acid DNA/RNA, I wouldn't consider viruses to be living as they need to infect other cells in order to function and reproduce unlike most living things.