What is a virus pd1 at mole.bio.cam.ac.uk Thu Jun 5 03:34:22 EST
2003 > Is a virus a living organism or a biological machine? >
Two Mechanical Engineers. I don't think there's a definite
answer to this: is a cell a biological machine? There's also
quite a large continuum of things that are defined as viruses
(obligate intracellular parasites with an eclipse phase). My
favourite virus (flu) has a relatively small genome with only
10-11 genes and under the right circumstances it can limp along
without at least 4 of these. Quite simple diagrams can be drawn
about how the proteins encoded by these genes interact with each
other to make a new virus, as long as you're willing to ignore
the host factors and don't mind a degree of plausible guesswork.
I've always thought of flu as a piece of biological clockwork
and have no problem with classifying it as a non-living
parasitic nanomachine. There are simpler viruses out there too,
even before you get down to the level of viroids and so on. But,
on the other hand, ther