There are plenty of organisms we generally consider “alive” that can’t replicate or do other key functions without other organisms.
Comment on viruses
Doxatek@mander.xyz 4 weeks agoThey’re not compromised of cells, and can’t replicate on their own and other organisms have to do that for them. The last point being important to our criteria for living. I was never taught as a biologist by anyone that they were alive
WolfLink@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
Doxatek@mander.xyz 4 weeks ago
Like what
WolfLink@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
For reproduction purposes, many parasites require a specific host to reproduce in. An interesting example is a worm that mind controls a snail and gets itself eaten by a bird, and then reproduces in the bird. Surprisingly, both the snail and the bird survive this process. (Granted, the difference between this and a virus is the virus uses the RNA decoding infrastructure in the infected cell to reproduce itself, while a parasite just is adapted to reproducing in the environment of the hosts body, but uses its own cells to do the reproduction).
However, there are many, many examples in nature of some essential task (often some part of the energy production/absorption process) that are done by a different organism. Some particularly interesting examples:
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there are a handful of animals that eat plants, absorb the chloroplasts, and use those to do photosynthesis
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In most animals, even in humans, a lot of the digestion process is done by bacteria living in your digestive tract. Some illnesses are caused by issues with the digestive tract bacteria, such as them dying out.
There are other animals adapted to living in environments or using things produced by other organisms. Hermit crabs get their name from their behavior of borrowing shells created by other organisms.
Really the only organism that can truly live “by itself” would probably be something like algae.
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MindTraveller@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
There you go defining humans as not alive again
gazter@aussie.zone 4 weeks ago
Are these requirements for your definition of life? Is it possible for us to reproduce without relying on other organisms?
Rubisco@slrpnk.net 4 weeks ago
o7
“Obligate intracellular parasite” was drilled and showed up on multiple exams, along with all that you mentioned. I’ve also heard “escaped cellular machinery.”
Absolutely fascinating…if a tad frightening.