Virus: Difference between revisions

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A virus is a non-living thing and is a non-bacterial pathogen. They can only reproduce inside of another living organism, such as animals and plants.
A virus is a non-living obligate intracellular parasite. They can only replicate inside of a living cell as they lack the necessary enzymes and molecular building blocks to be self sufficient. Viruses can be classified by structure (icosahedral, enveloped, complex etc), genome (retroviruses have an RNA genome) or by the route through transcription (Baltimore classification).

Revision as of 19:08, 16 October 2012

A virus is a non-living obligate intracellular parasite. They can only replicate inside of a living cell as they lack the necessary enzymes and molecular building blocks to be self sufficient. Viruses can be classified by structure (icosahedral, enveloped, complex etc), genome (retroviruses have an RNA genome) or by the route through transcription (Baltimore classification).