Question 1
Viruses are not living things though they have some characteristics of living things such as mutation and replication. One of the major characteristics of all living things is being made up of cells, the basic structure of all living things, which viruses are not; viruses are made up of core of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA, surrounded by protein coat. Viruses should have both the DNA and RNA to be considered as living things. These nucleic acids are the genetic components of life; to be able to reproduce, an organism should have both DNA and RNA and through the process of mitosis which viruses can not perform. But how do viruses reproduce? Once a virus has found a host, it will infect its cells, using the cell’s enzyme that is required to copy the viral genome, virus now replicates itself thousands of times. Without living cells, viruses can not exist, grow and reproduce; they are simply parasites but they are not living things. Also, viruses do not eat unlike living things. Viruses are not living things but we eradicate or kill them because they have the capability to reproduce, infecting the host and making the host ill.
Question 2
Protists are unicellular eukaryotes; complex because of its cellular organization and because they have a nucleus to house their genetic material and membrane-bound organelles. This composition of protists makes them functionally complex despite of their small size. Protists have mitochondria for metabolic functions, and vacuoles for digestion and excretion; they have the organelles necessary to survive. Single-celled organisms like protists, unlike multi-cellular organisms, can not do complex tasks like reproduction through meiosis. They rely on hosts to replicate and complete their complex life or perform mitosis for reproduction. Because of their unicellularity, they can just do simple tasks.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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