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> Phages are living things. No they're not. Virus particles are totally inert on their own. They incorporate themselves into and modify other living systems. B
by cup-of-tea 8y ago
> Phages are living things.
No they're not. Virus particles are totally inert on their own. They incorporate themselves into and modify other living systems. But that's no different from drugs.
- Fomite 8y agoDrugs don't multiply at the site of action.
- cup-of-tea 8y agoViruses themselves don't actually multiply. They just force the host (in this case the bacteria) to produce more copies of the virus. Is there some kind of rule that a drug can't force the bacteria to produce more of the drug?
- Fomite 8y agoEvery virologist I know considers viral replication to be a process of the virus. This argument is like saying "Humans themselves don't build porches, they just force their power drills to." And while there's no rule that prevents that, I don't know of a single drug - or even the suggestion of a drug - that's capable of integrating with a bacterial host genome, producing the needed compounds, and then exporting them out of the cell. It's not impossible, no, but it's not a thing presently happening.