Even today in light of the pandemic spread of the corona virus COVID 19, the debate amongst biologists which concerns whether viruses are alive or not still remains unresolved. This, however, revolves around the argument that viruses cannot produce their own adenosine triphosphate molecule (ATP) through metabolism and, therefore, must rely on other living microorganisms that can produce it in order to access the energy that ATP provides upon hydrolysis. It is mainly on account of this distinction that viruses are relegated to an ill-defined area that separates living things from nonliving things. Nevertheless, apparently viruses possess an inherent capacity that enables them to cross this invisible dividing line in order to link up with the ATP molecule through which they sustain their activities. The following presents a review of these issues with regard to microbiology, biochemistry and physics.
References
[1]
Dupré, J. and O’Malley, M.A. (2009) Varieties of Living Things: Life at the intersection of Lineage and Metabolism, Philosophy and Theory in Biology. University of Exeter, Exeter. http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/ptb.6959004.0001.003 https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=ptb;c=ptb;c=ptpbio;idno=6959004.0001.003;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=ptpbiog
[2]
Maruyama, K. (1991) The Discovery of Adenosine Triphosphate and the Establishment of Its Structure. Journal of the History of Biology, 24, 145-154.
[3]
Schrödinger, E. (1944) What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. http://www.whatislife.ie/downloads/What-is-Life.pdf
[4]
Bergman, J. (1999) ATP: The Perfect Energy Currency for the Cell. Creative Research Society Quarterly, 36. https://www.trueorigin.org/atp.php
[5]
Hui, E.K.-W. and Nayak, D.P. (2002) Role of G Protein and Kinase Signaling in Influenza Virus Budding in MDCK Cells. Journal of General Virology, 83, 3055-3066. https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-83-12-3055 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12466482/
[6]
Zaitlin, M. (1998) The Discovery of the Causal Agent of the Tobacco Mosaic Disease. In: Kung, D. and Yang, S.F., Eds., Discoveries in Plant Biology, World Publishing Co., Ltd., Hong Kong, 105-110. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812817563_0007 https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/apsnetfeatures/Pages/DiscoveryCausalAgentTobaccoMosaicVirusDisease.aspx
[7]
Ando, T., et al. (2012) Visualization and Measurement of ATP Levels in Living Cells Replicating Hepatitis C Virus Genome RNA. PLoS Pathogens, 8, e1002561. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002561 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22396648/