Life Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Viruses === {{main|Virus}} [[File:Adenovirus transmission electron micrograph B82-0142 lores.jpg|thumb|right|[[Adenovirus]]es as seen under an electron microscope]] Whether or not viruses should be considered as alive is controversial.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Virus |url=https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Virus |access-date=25 July 2022 |website=Genome.gov |archive-date=11 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511064713/https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Virus |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Are Viruses Alive? |url=https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/yellowstone/viruslive.html |access-date=25 July 2022 |website=Yellowstone Thermal Viruses |archive-date=14 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614031640/https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/yellowstone/viruslive.html |url-status=live }}</ref> They are most often considered as just [[gene coding]] [[DNA replication|replicators]] rather than forms of life.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Are viruses alive? The replicator paradigm sheds decisive light on an old but misguided question |journal=Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biology and Biomedical Science |volume=59 |pages=125β134 |date=7 March 2016 |last1=Koonin |first1=E.V. |last2=Starokadomskyy |first2=P. |doi=10.1016/j.shpsc.2016.02.016 |pmid=26965225 |pmc=5406846}}</ref> They have been described as "organisms at the edge of life"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rybicki |first=EP |year=1990 |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_6229 |title=The classification of organisms at the edge of life, or problems with virus systematics |journal=S Afr J Sci |volume=86 |pages=182β186 |access-date=5 November 2023 |archive-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921114412/https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_6229 |url-status=live }}</ref> because they possess [[gene]]s, evolve by natural selection,<ref name="pmid17914905">{{Cite journal |last1=Holmes |first1=E.C. |title=Viral evolution in the genomic age |journal=PLOS Biol. |volume=5 |issue=10 |page=e278 |date=October 2007 |pmid=17914905 |pmc=1994994 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050278 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Forterre 2010">{{cite journal |title=Defining Life: The Virus Viewpoint |journal=Orig Life Evol Biosph |date=3 March 2010 |first=Patrick |last=Forterre |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=151β160 |doi=10.1007/s11084-010-9194-1 |bibcode=2010OLEB...40..151F |pmc=2837877 |pmid=20198436}}</ref> and replicate by making multiple copies of themselves through self-assembly. However, viruses do not metabolise and they require a host cell to make new products. Virus self-assembly within host cells has implications for the study of the [[origin of life]], as it may support the hypothesis that life could have started as self-assembling [[organic molecules]].<ref name="pmid16984643">{{Cite journal |last1=Koonin |first1=E.V. |author1-link=Eugene Koonin |last2=Senkevich |first2=T.G. |last3=Dolja |first3=V.V. |title=The ancient Virus World and evolution of cells |journal=Biology Direct |volume=1 |page=29 |year=2006 |pmid=16984643 |pmc=1594570 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-1-29 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/tutorial/virorig.html#Virus%20Origins |title=Origins of Viruses |last=Rybicki |first=Ed |date=November 1997 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509094459/http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/tutorial/virorig.html|archive-date=9 May 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=12 April 2009}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page