EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Viruses cannot replicate on their own, but rather depend on their host cell’s protein synthesis pathways to reproduce. This typically occurs by the virus inserting its genetic material in host cells, co-opting the proteins to create viral replicates, until the cell bursts from the high volume of new viral particles.

Detailed explanation-2: -Replication occurs in the cytoplasm and is largely independent of cellular machinery, as the particles contain many virus-encoded enzymes essential for RNA replication and transcription since these processes (involving copying RNA to make further RNA molecules) do not normally occur in cellular organisms.

Detailed explanation-3: -Viruses are microscopic biological agents that invade living hosts and infect their bodies by reproducing within their cell tissue. Viruses are tiny infectious agents that rely on living cells to multiply.

Detailed explanation-4: -They do not possess ribosomes and cannot independently form proteins from molecules of messenger RNA. Because of these limitations, viruses can replicate only within a living host cell. Therefore, viruses are obligate intracellular parasites.

Detailed explanation-5: -Once a virus gets into a host’s body, it travels along the surfaces of cells until its proteins begin to bind with receptors on the cells. The virus and the cells then fuse, allowing the DNA or RNA inside the virus to enter the cells, where it begins to reproduce.