GED Science › Viruses
What is one of the primary reasons that viruses are not considered living organisms?
They do not make their own proteins
They do not have nucleic acids
They are capable of causing disease
They do not use proteins in their structures
Viruses are considered non-living organisms for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is that viruses are incapable of creating their own proteins and must hijack host cell ribosomes in order to make them.
Virus structures contain both proteins and nucleic acids, but are unable to replicate their genetic material unless they infect a host cell.