Question

Giant viruses are challenging the historical notion that viruses are nonliving things. What characteristic do giant viruses possess that make scientists think twice about their classification?

Answer 1

Giant virus are also known as girus. They are even found to be larger than the bacteria. They also contain many unique genes which are not found in a typical virus. Their genetic material is DNA. They have double stranded DNA in their genome.They have large icosahedral capsid surrounded by protein fibres. They have most complete structure for building proteins and a large genome along with the genes associated for metabolism. Hence they are predicted to be alive unlike other typical viruses. These are mostly found in ocean ecosystem.