Is virus the most primitive organism or is it a super evolved parasite.i found this in my bio text book.?

Question

Is virus the most primitive organism or is it a super evolved parasite.i found this in my bio text book.?

Answer 1

virus is primitive, it doesn't even have DNA it only has RNA, all it does is inject its RNA into a cell to reproduce.  It is arguably not even really a form of life, but more like an organic anomaly.  It is simpler than an amoeba.  It is simpler than bacteria.  It is the simplest reproducing organic system.

Answer 2

Prokaryotes are the most primitive organism. And virus is actually a nonliving parasite, we cannot refer it to be an organism.

Virus might have evolved from the remains and traces of proteins, then picking up naked DNA in the environment. They are only living when they are parasitic.

Answer 3

basically the answer above me, but i think that they are still not living when they are parasitic; they only carry out reproduction (replication)

Answer 4

Closer to a super-evolved parasite.

They are not "the most primitive organism" because life most certainly did not evolve from viruses.   They are parasitic in their very nature ... meaning that they *need* other organisms to be able to reproduce.   Viruses would not exist without other organisms.

Instead, viruses most likely originated as rogue pieces of DNA or RNA that included just enough information for

(a) a protein coat that allows the DNA or RNA to survive outside a cell; and

(b) the ability to insert that DNA or RNA into a cell's DNA or RNA so that it piggy-back's on the cell's reprodocive machinery.

So in a way, a virus is the perfectly evolved parasite.   It doesn't even need food.  

This just shows that evolution does not have to go in the direction of higher complexity.   Sometimes getting simpler and simpler can be very advantageous.

Answer 5

It's both.

It's primitive in the fact that it's structure and mechanism of reproduction are very simple.

It's super-evolved in the fact that a virus can adapt to new vaccines and medications.  A small change in a virus can erase everything that we have learned about it, and we have to start from scratch looking for treatments.