Viruses: Complex Molecules Or Simple Life Forms?

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has a helical capsoid and is rod shaped. The
adenovirus is polyhedral and has a protein spike at each vertex. The influenza
virus is made of a flexible, helecal capsid. It has an outer membranous
enevelope that is covered with glycoprotein spikes. The T-even bacteriophage
consists of a polyhedral head and a tail. The tail is used to inject DNA into a
bacterium while the head stores the DNA.
Basic life is defined as the simplest form capable of displaying the
most essential attributes of a living thing. This makes the only real criterion
for life the ability to replicate. Only systems containing nucleic acids are
capable of this phenomenon. With this reasoning, a better definition is the
unit element of a continuous lineage with an individual evolutionary history.
Because of viruses inability to survive when not in a host, they must have
evolved from other forms of life. The origin of viruses is an easy thing to
theorize about so many hypothesese have been made.
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