Viruses
The word virus means "poi-son" in Latin.
Viruses are submicro-scopic
intracellular parasites that consist of either
RNA or DNA, and a protective coat
of protein. It has caused countless
diseases in vari-ous organisms. The term
virus was first used in the 1890s to
describe agents that caused diseases that
were smaller than bacteria. The
ex-istence of viruses was established in 1892,
when Russian scientist Dimity
I. Ivanovsky discovered microscopic particles
later known as the tobacco
mosaic virus. Over the years, scientists have debated
whether viruses are
alive. Some scientists argue that the virus is lifeless. On
the other hand,
other scientists argue that viruses are lifeforms and should be
classified
into a kingdom. However, many sci-entists have agreed that things
must have
seven characteristics of life to be considered alive. The character-istics
of
life are all living things are composed of cells, all organisms are
organized
at cellular and molecular levels, energy use, and response to the
environment,
growth, reproduc-tion, and adaptation. From research and
observa-tion,
scientists have found that vi-ruses can perform some of the
life processes. They
found that viruses have organization, the ability to
re-produce, and
adaptations. First, they found that viruses are generally
organized and composed
of a nu-cleic acid core, either RNA or DNA, surrounded
by protein. Next, they
found that viruses could reproduce. It does not
reproduce by sexual or asexual
production, but by injecting its genetic
material into the nucleus of a living
cell. Finally, they found out that
viruses have adaptations. They have the
ability to mutate into different
strains to resist man-made drugs. In short,
these are some views and facts
about the virus. To this day, scientists are
still fiercely debating whether
viruses are alive. Should we consider them alive
since they perform some life
processes or simply consider them
lifeless?