A student reads in a science blog that viruses take over a host cell to grow and reproduce. Why do viruses depend on host cells
to grow and reproduce? A Viruses do not have the organelles necessary for reproduction. B Viruses do not have any genetic material. C Viruses can only replicate through meiosis. D Viruses can only reproduce by creating a zygote.
Usually a virus is mainly made up of genetic material (DNA or RNA) inside a capsid/envelope. It has no organelles like a ‘true’ cell. Because it cannot reproduce on its own, scientists struggle to categorize it as a living thing since reproduction is a property of living things. The virus reproduces by hijacking the cellular mechanisms of the host cells to replicate itself. It does so by integrating itself in the genome of the host so that its DNA is also replicated, along with that of the host, by the host cell DNA polymerases and its proteins produced by the ribosomes of the host.
