AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Viruses are not made out of cells, they can’t keep themselves in a stable state, they don’t grow, and they can’t make their own energy. Even though they definitely replicate and adapt to their environment, viruses are more like androids than real living organisms.

Detailed explanation-2: -The authors concluded that viruses originated in ‘proto-virocells’ that were cellular in nature and they implied that viruses and modern bacteria evolved from common ancestors. They further claim that this means that viruses are indeed living organisms.

Detailed explanation-3: -Viruses are considered as something between living and non-living because they do not grow or reproduce by themselves. This makes them non-living. However, when a virus enters a living cell of an organism, it obtains energy from the host cell and starts reproducing.

Detailed explanation-4: -Finally, a virus isn’t considered living because it doesn’t need to consume energy to survive, nor is it able to regulate its own temperature.

Detailed explanation-5: -Viruses also lack the properties of living things: They have no energy metabolism, they do not grow, they produce no waste products, and they do not respond to stimuli. They also don’t reproduce independently but must replicate by invading living cells.