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Viruses Need Host Cells
- Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that must enter a cell to replicate.
- They hijack host machinery to produce new virus particles and cannot reproduce independently.
RNA Links Viruses To Early Life
- Many biologists think early self-replicators used RNA rather than DNA.
- Because most viruses use RNA, they may have arisen around the same time as early cellular life.
Genomic Fossils Reveal Viral Antiquity
- We can't directly date the first viruses, but genomic 'fossils' in host DNA reveal ancient viral history.
- Viruses likely appeared soon after cellular life because they require cells to replicate.