ArticleStudies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences2016
Are viruses alive? The replicator paradigm sheds decisive light on an old but misguided question.
Article in Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Systematic Review on Major Antiviral Phytocompounds from Common Medicinal Plants against SARS-CoV-2.Medicinal chemistry (Shariqah (United Arab Emirates)) · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of bacteriophages on growth performance and health indicators in broiler chickens in the absence of bacterial challenge - A review.Veterinarni medicina · 2026Review
- A jumbo cyanophage encodes the most comprehensive ribosomal protein set in the known virosphere.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Core Concepts for Early Childhood Microbiology Education.Microbial biotechnology · 2026Article
- Chlorogenic acid carbon dots inhibit NDV proliferation by suppressing virus-induced mitochondrial autophagy and MAVS degradation in host cells.Materials today. Bio · 2025Article
- Acytota and the evolution of complexity.European biophysics journal : EBJ · 2025Review
- Virucidal Coatings Active Against SARS-CoV-2.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Review
- Investigates the ability of plant extracts from Lens culinaris to protect zucchini from the Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- An economon model of drug addiction.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Nanoparticles: a promising tool against environmental stress in plants.Frontiers in plant science · 2024Review
- Article
- Coevolution of reproducers and replicators at the origin of life and the conditions for the origin of genomes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Cationic Surfactants as Disinfectants against SARS-CoV-2.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- How many ways can you die? Multiple biological deaths as a consequence of the multiple concepts of an organism.Theoretical medicine and bioethics · 2022Article
- Evolving Perspective on the Origin and Diversification of Cellular Life and the Virosphere.Genome biology and evolution · 2022Review
- Viroids and Viroid-like Circular RNAs: Do They Descend from Primordial Replicators?Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Revealing In Silico that Bacteria's Outer Membrane Proteins may Help our Bodies Replicate and Carry Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.Bioinformatics and biology insights · 2022Article
- Viruses Defined by the Position of the Virosphere within the Replicator Space.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2021Article
- More-Than-Human and Deeply Human Perspectives on COVID-19.Antipode · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The question whether or not "viruses are alive" has caused considerable debate over many years. Yet, the question is effectively without substance because the answer depends entirely on the definition of life or the state of "being alive" that is bound to be arbitrary. In contrast, the status of viruses among biological entities is readily defined within the replicator paradigm. All biological replicators form a continuum along the selfishness-cooperativity axis, from the completely selfish to fully cooperative forms. Within this range, typical, lytic viruses represent the selfish extreme whereas temperate viruses and various mobile elements occupy positions closer to the middle of the range. Selfish replicators not only belong to the biological realm but are intrinsic to any evolving system of replicators. No such system can evolve without the emergence of parasites, and moreover, parasites drive the evolution of biological complexity at multiple levels. The history of life is a story of parasite-host coevolution that includes both the incessant arms race and various forms of cooperation. All organisms are communities of interacting, coevolving replicators of different classes. A complete theory of replicator coevolution remains to be developed, but it appears likely that not only the differentiation between selfish and cooperative replicators but the emergence of the entire range of replication strategies, from selfish to cooperative, is intrinsic to biological evolution.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.