What is Virus in Biology?
A virus is a unique entity that resides within a host’s body. These non-cellular entities, when outside a living cell, possess a dormant crystalline structure. On the other hand, when present inside a living form, their tendency is to make use of the host cell to create multiple copies. Typically, this leads to the destruction of the host cell, resulting in damage to the host organism. All living things, including bacteria and archaea, as well as plants, animals, and microbes, are infected by the virus. Viruses are not considered to be ‘ truly living ‘. That is why viruses are excluded from Whittaker’s taxonomy, which categorizes living things into five Kingdoms. The study of viruses is known as virology.
Virus Definition
Virus is a microscopic infectious agent that falls somewhere between living and non-living entities. Viruses are composed of genetic material, either DNA or RNA, enclosed in a protein coat called a capsid.
Virus in Biology
Virus is an infectious agent of the submicroscopic size that cannot survive alone. Hence, it infects cells of other living organisms and replicates itself using the components of these host cells. Its biological structure is comprised of a fragment of nucleic acid that could either be DNA or RNA. The most commonly known examples of viruses are HIV Virus, Coronavirus, Ebola virus, etc.
In this article, you will learn about what is virus in biology, characteristics of virus, its structure, importance, reproduction and examples of virus.
Table of Content
- What is Virus in Biology?
- Characteristics of Virus
- Classification of Virus
- Structure of Virus
- Example of a Bacterial Virus
- Reproduction in Virus
- Importance of Virus
- Diseases caused by Virus