A student claims that viruses are alive because they have genetic material and can reproduce is this student's claim correct a no viruses are not alive because they rely on a host organism to be able to reproduce B no viruses are not alive because they do not have genetic material nor can they reproduce see yes viruses are alive because they have genetic material D yes viruses are alive because they can reproduce

Answer 1

The correct answer is A: no, viruses are not alive because they rely on a host organism to be able to reproduce.

While it is true that viruses do have genetic material, they cannot reproduce independently; they require a host cell to replicate and propagate. This dependency on a host is a key reason why many scientists consider viruses to be on the border between living and non-living entities.