VIRAL FUNCTIONS: 

 ORDER AND DISORDER 



Introduction 



An organism is an orderly system of integrated 

 structures and functions able to metabolize and to reproduce its 

 kind. The microorganism or the cell is the ultimate unit of integra- 

 tion and reproduction. Ulthuate here means smallest. The cell must 

 have at its disposal some 2,000 enzyme species in order to secure 

 energy and to synthesize all its building blocks. It must therefore 

 possess the genetic information for the synthesis of these 2,000 

 enzymes and some space in which to organize these enzymes in the 

 proper organelles. The ultimate unit of integrated structures and 

 functions must necessarily possess a minimal size. As a matter of fact, 

 the diameter of the smallest microorganism capable of independent 

 reproduction is about 5,000 A. 



When one studies the living \vorld, however, one discovers en- 

 tities able to reproduce their kind which are about 250 A in di- 

 ameter. Their volume is therefore 8,000 times smaller than that of 

 the smallest microorganism. These entities are viral particles. They 

 contain proteins and nucleic acid and exhibit a constant and well- 

 defined structure. Viruses are able to reproduce their kind. Yet, the 

 viral particle, as such, is unable to metabolize, to grow, and to un- 

 dergo binary fusion. Viral multiplication thus poses a certain number 

 of problems. 



Viruses can develop only inside a living cell. They are strictly 

 intracellular parasites. A cell infected by a virus very often dies. 

 Sometimes, however, the cell/virus system survives and multiplies. 

 Two systems of order are then intertangled. The viral order is 



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