Answer to Question #339093 in Cell Biology for Phoenix

Question

What does it mean that viruses are acellular?

Answer 1

Viruses are acellular, parasitic entities that are not classified within any domain because they are not considered alive. They have no plasma membrane, internal organelles, or metabolic processes, and they do not divide. They carry out no metabolism on their own and must replicate using the host cell's metabolic machinery. In other words, viruses don't grow and divide.