Question

What piece of evidence supports the viral model presented in viewpoint #2 that viruses are non-living?

a.viruses are pathogens
b.viruses do not undergo mitosis
c.viruses are biochemical particles
d.viruses exist in two different states?

Answer 1

The right answer is b.viruses do not undergo mitosis.

*Viruses, like HIV, are able to multiply at high speed once they have parasitized a cell.

*By definition, a living organism is born, feeds, grows, reproduces and dies.

Since they are without metabolism, viruses appear to be closer to inert matter, although their reproduction binds them to life. So, the debate is still open regarding the classification of viruses among living or not.

Answer 2

The right anwer is (b). Indeed, some scientists consider viruses as non-living because viruses do not undergo mitosis, which is the usual way living cells reproduce themselves. On the contrary, viruses inoculate their genetic material in a host cell in such a way to force the cell to make a copy of the virus DNA, thus making more viruses, that then kill the host cell and disseminate themselves. In practice the viruses exploits the replication tools of the living cells to replicate themselves, since they lack the machinery and also they lack something resembling cell metabolism, i.e., they do not "eat" or "grow".