NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Viruses can’t metabolize (break down) food to release energy (carry out respiration) or grow. The only thing that viruses can do is replicate (copy themselves), but to do that they need the help of a living cell. The living cell in which a virus replicates is called its host cell.

Detailed explanation-2: -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.

Detailed explanation-3: -A virus cannot replicate alone; instead, it must infect cells and use components of the host cell to make copies of itself. Often, a virus ends up killing the host cell in the process, causing damage to the host organism. Well-known examples of viruses causing human disease include AIDS, COVID-19, measles and smallpox.

Detailed explanation-4: -Viruses can’t move, grow, convert nutrients into energy or excrete waste products. But viruses certainly reproduce, infecting people and causing illnesses. It’s how they reproduce that’s unusual. Viruses lack essential machinery needed to reproduce by themselves.