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“Are Viruses Alive?”

By Luis Villarreal
Summary:
In Luis Villarreal’s article, “Are Viruses Alive?”, Villarreal explores the idea that
viruses are not merely “poisons,” as originally thought, but are not technically “living.”
They can’t replicate by themselves, but can do so while in a living cell. Even so, modern
scientists classify them as nonliving.
In Latin, the word virus means “poison,” leading early scientists to believe that’s
what they were. 19th century scientists studying certain diseases realized that they were
caused by bacteria-behaving particles, but weren’t especially complex because they
spread from one person to another with obvious effects.
Villarreal describes an event in 1935, in which a team of scientists crystallized a
virus and found that although it consisted of complex biochemicals, it didn’t have the
systems necessary for metabolism. They also discovered that the virus contained DNA,
and had a “coat” that is shed after entering a cell. Many scientists suggest that viruses
aren’t alive because they lack basic cell organelles.
To fully understand whether viruses are alive or not, one needs to understand the
definition of life. Life, as defined by Villarreal, is that, “Living organisms also are
thought to require a degree of biochemical autonomy, carrying on the metabolic activities
that produce the molecules and energy needed to sustain the organism.” However, viruses
are dependant on the infected cell for materials and the ability to spread to other cells.
With this activity, the author states, “viruses are simply nonliving parasites of living
metabolic systems.” Villarreal then goes on to distinguish living things from non-living
things, and states that viruses are like seeds, in that they have potential for life.
Villarreal then states that, like viruses, cells aren’t necessarily “alive” when by
themselves. However, since cells together are alive, and viruses are on the verge of life,
they are two different things. A discovery in 1992 showed that some viruses had genes
which were thought to only be in cellular organisms.
 Villarreal talks about how many viruses have remained unchanged for billions of
years. However, they are still not classified as living. The author states, “viruses are
fugitive host genes that have degenerated into parasites.” Therefore, they have evolved
from some sort of host gene. They have evolved into genes that are persistent in their
attack of the human body, and have an effect on how the body runs. They’ve evolved into
genes that can “hide” from the body’s immune system, making it harder to detect. They
find their way into the human genome and can help species to evolve.
Overall, viruses have extreme effects on life today, especially with the swine flu
today.
Response:
This article was especially important because of the swine flu epidemic. It was
interesting to learn what viruses really are, and whether they are living or not. We don’t
really know what viruses are; what they’re made of, what they really do, so it was
interesting to learn how they spread and evolved. They’ve been around for billions of
years, so it makes me curious about how early humans lived. Were their immune systems
strong enough to handle them? It’s also interesting to know how they’re constantly
evolving.
This article fits into the theme of evolution, because viruses have evolved to be
even more efficient now.