Good stuff, Mike! One question that arises in my mind concerns the nature of viruses. That is, how does something that has no metabolism manage to replicate? I understand that viruses are parasitic upon the host…but it is assumed that something that has no internal metabolism is capable of replicating. Have we ever seen any evidence of a virus like particle replicating in a natural environment? I like to see you explore this further.
Thank for the comment, Vince. This is exactly the point. They, in theory, would be entirely dependent upon the host for everything. It’s an inert particle, which can’t do anything itself. They’d have to move around in a random manner and by chance come into contact with the required receptor that is supposedly expressed on specific cell types. I’ve never seen any evidence of such a particular, virus or otherwise, being able to self-replicate. The main issue is that you wouldn’t be able to package the necessary “machinery” into something that small.
Good stuff, Mike! One question that arises in my mind concerns the nature of viruses. That is, how does something that has no metabolism manage to replicate? I understand that viruses are parasitic upon the host…but it is assumed that something that has no internal metabolism is capable of replicating. Have we ever seen any evidence of a virus like particle replicating in a natural environment? I like to see you explore this further.
Thank for the comment, Vince. This is exactly the point. They, in theory, would be entirely dependent upon the host for everything. It’s an inert particle, which can’t do anything itself. They’d have to move around in a random manner and by chance come into contact with the required receptor that is supposedly expressed on specific cell types. I’ve never seen any evidence of such a particular, virus or otherwise, being able to self-replicate. The main issue is that you wouldn’t be able to package the necessary “machinery” into something that small.