{"id":1287,"date":"2020-06-08T13:03:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T11:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldmicrobiomeday.com\/?p=1287"},"modified":"2023-08-07T15:24:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T13:24:10","slug":"are-viruses-alive-perhaps-were-asking-the-wrong-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldmicrobiomeday.com\/blog\/are-viruses-alive-perhaps-were-asking-the-wrong-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Are viruses alive? Perhaps we\u2019re asking the wrong question"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Are viruses alive? Perhaps we\u2019re asking the wrong question<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Axel_Kock\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>\n\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHugh Harris<\/a>,\u00a0University College Cork<\/a><\/em><\/figure>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tViruses are an inescapable part of life, especially in a global viral pandemic. Yet ask a roomful of scientists if viruses are alive and you\u2019ll get a very mixed response.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe truth is, we don\u2019t fully understand viruses, and we\u2019re still trying to understand life. Some\u00a0properties of living things<\/a>\u00a0are absent from viruses, such as cellular structure, metabolism (the chemical reactions that take place in cells) and homeostasis (keeping a stable internal environment).\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis sets viruses apart from life as we currently define it. But there are also properties that viruses\u00a0share with life<\/a>. They evolve, for instance, and by infecting a host cell they multiply using the same cellular machinery.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMany viruses<\/a>\u00a0can cut the DNA of infected cells and intertwine their own genetic material so that they are copied along with the DNA of their host whenever the cell divides. This process is called lysogeny and it can be contrasted with the more destructive\u00a0lytic strategy<\/a>\u00a0of viruses where they multiply in great numbers within a cell, only to burst the cell open and spread out to infect other cells.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere is an undeniable genetic and physiological connection between viruses and the organisms they infect. The discovery of giant viruses\u00a0further blurs the distinction<\/a>. These viruses can have as many genes as bacteria, some of which code for functions\u00a0previously thought<\/a>\u00a0to be unique to cellular organisms.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDoes this new information lead to confusion or clarity? Can we ever answer the elusive question of whether viruses are alive, instead of just a non-living part of the living world? If we approach this puzzle correctly, we may find that we are focusing on the wrong question. Is \u201clife\u201d a box-like category that we can place things in as we discover them, or is it something far more mysterious?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A cosmological thought experiment<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLet us distance ourselves from the details and indulge in a thought experiment. There are hundreds of billions of stars spread out across the universe, clustered into galaxies, many guiding the orbits of planets around them. Some planets, in turn, are acting as gravitational centres for orbiting moons. We\u00a0know this much<\/a>.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNow, imagine that lifeforms are scattered across these moons and planets, uncommon in any one galaxy perhaps, but numerous over the vast expanse of the universe. A team of intergalactic scientists has been working diligently for centuries, characterising the\u00a0different forms of life<\/a>\u00a0and their unique properties and, more importantly, what they share. They might all use a certain type of molecule, for instance, or share a definitive process like Darwinian evolution.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy would a shared characteristic of life be so important? Because it suggests that life is not a chance happening but an emergent property of the universe. The team of alien scientists might conclude that life is less of an accident and more of a universal principle.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis all feels reassuring but is not necessarily true. Carol Cleland, professor of philosophy and author of several books on the nature and origin of life,\u00a0speculates that<\/a>\u00a0life might not be a \u201cnatural kind\u201d. This means that life is defined by people instead of by nature.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt is like grouping bats with birds due to their shared ability to fly, instead of with mammals. This categorisation gives flight a priority over evolutionary history, even though it is evolution that reflects the most natural relationships among lifeforms on our planet.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCleland ultimately doubts that life is just a\u00a0manmade concept<\/a>. She might well be right. This is what makes the alternative so intriguing. What if there is life on a distant planet so unimaginably unlike our own that we would not recognise it if we found it? Could we even call it \u201clife\u201d?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Back down on Earth<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe are not so advanced as our hypothetical intergalactic explorers. We have yet to find life on another planet, despite our\u00a0missions to Mars<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0recent speculation<\/a>\u00a0about Saturn\u2019s icy moon, Enceladus, and Jupiter\u2019s Europa.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThese moons are\u00a0thought to have<\/a>\u00a0active hydrothermal vents that spew out geothermally heated water, much like those at the bottom of Earth\u2019s oceans.\u00a0One hypothesis<\/a>\u00a0on the origin of life on our planet is that it began close to these energetic, chemically rich fissures in the ocean floor.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur scientists have a sample size of one. All life on Earth arose from a\u00a0common ancestor<\/a>\u00a0in the deep geological past. This was\u00a0long before<\/a>\u00a0we had oxygen, or even continents. We do not know what this ancestor looked like in any detail, but it is\u00a0hypothesised to be<\/a>\u00a0a primitive cell containing the basic machinery for copying genetic material and expressing proteins.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDid viruses predate this common ancestor? Or did they somehow originate from early evolving lifeforms? Events so ancient are always tortured with uncertainty, but\u00a0speculation involves<\/a>\u00a0numerous intriguing scenarios, all of which may be false.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe\u00a0tree of life<\/a>, a model of the evolutionary history of life on Earth, might find viruses among its branches after all. The caveat is to keep an open mind. Models themselves evolve with our increased understanding of reality. And who knows what the future of biology will reveal?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAre viruses alive? Perhaps this isn\u2019t the question we should be asking. Viruses are evolving entities that are intimately related to cellular life. But we do not understand life.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhenever we get too confident with our opinions and our definitions, we should wonder at that hypothetical planet holding lifelike entities in a remote galaxy, the existence of which could change everything we know.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSomeday, we may be lucky enough to find it.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHugh Harris<\/a>, Postdoctoral researcher in Microbiology and Bioinformatics, University College Cork<\/a><\/em>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBACK TO BLOG<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are viruses alive? Perhaps we\u2019re asking the wrong question Axel_Kock\/Shutterstock Hugh Harris, University College Cork Viruses are an inescapable part of life, especially in a global viral pandemic. Yet ask a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAre viruses alive? 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