Viruses are Living organisms

I will formulate my response in this round by first rebutting your arguments logically/with examples then the second part will be composed of my arguments (Why a virus IS a living organism). Please read carefully. "Movement- A virus cannot move itself" This is in fact not true. It has been proven that viruses module their cytoskeleton to create movement (think of a worm and how it moves); "Reproduction- It cannot reproduce by its own means, only by taking over host cells (which does not count!)" You are missing the fundamental knowledge of reproduction. Two cells are required for reproduction in order to create a new one. It is a vague argument but i do not wish to go very technical. Think of this: A man cannot reproduce with another man.. he needs a woman (her cell...). The sperm (containing half the DNA information) will fertilize the egg (containing half the DNA info) and will give rise to a new cell. The same happens with viruses. It replicates it's DNA and injects it into the host cell. "Stimulous-response/sensitivity- Cannot respond to environment" This is somewhat correct but incorrect at the same time. In the event of a DNA injection (reproduction of the virus) the infected cell (containing the DNA of the virus) does respond to stimuli. "Nutrition- It does not obtain or use energy" Here is the response to that "Viruses are too small and simple to collect or use their own energy" they just steal it from the cells they infect. Viruses only need energy when they make copies of themselves, and they don't need any energy at all when they are outside of a cell" [1] "Excretion- Does not produce wastes" This should be deduced from the point above. But if you are unable to, i will explain it to you in one sentence. What goes in must come out (maybe not in the same molecular composition). "Respiration- Does not undergo respiration" The reason why we breathe is to supply oxygen to the cells in order for them to be able to burn the nutrients from the food we ingested to create energy. Now i would argue that energy cannot be "absorbed" by the virus, but apparently they are able to somehow harvest it. "Growth- Does not grow or develop" I would agree that they do not grow (in height or weight) but in the DNA injection stages where the DNA of the host undergoes a mutation, the resulting virus must be developing in order to continue the cycle. Here are my arguments as to why viruses are Living Organisms: Evolution within Host As you might be aware the membrane of the viruses is composed of "mating" connectors that when they come in contact with a cell membrane (one of your body cells) an interconnection happens, allowing the virus to enter the cell. [2] If the virus is able to mimic these mating connectors (for a lack of better words) in order to perfectly align themselves and trick the cell into thinking that is a substance that requires some adaptation and evolution (Ebola as example). Living organisms are able to adapt and to evolve. Therefore a virus is a living organism. Viral Evolution between Hosts A virus is able to quickly change it's outer surface and it's genes in order to appear as a new entity to the host/new cell. Due to this quick changes, once cell is infected, the virus can spread to other cells that have different specialties. (ie first the virus infected a skin cell then it evolved and affected a muscle cell). It's rapid adaptation and evolution can be then transferred to other hosts that might not be part of the same biological tree branch. (from a frog to a human). [1] http://askabiologist.asu.edu... [2]