NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Although viruses have a genome, they need to take over the machinery of other living cells to follow the virus genome instructions. So, viruses cannot reproduce by themselves. Next, all living things have metabolism.

Detailed explanation-2: -First seen as poisons, then as life-forms, then biological chemicals, viruses today are thought of as being in a gray area between living and nonliving: they cannot replicate on their own but can do so in truly living cells and can also affect the behavior of their hosts profoundly.

Detailed explanation-3: -Living things reproduce. Viruses definitely multiply. While our immune system could certainly handle a single virion, it’s the hundreds of thousands of virions created in a short period of time that harm our cells. Viruses must use host cells to create more virions.

Detailed explanation-4: -Viruses cannot reproduce outside the host because these organisms do not have the metabolic machinery of their own. Viruses do not have cytoplasm and enzymes required for reproduction. In this regard viruses must approach their respective host for reproductive components.