| Non-cellular Life |
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| acytota | |
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In discussing the Taxonomic Domain s of life, the terms Acytota or '''Aphanobionta''' are occasionally used as the name of a ''' Viral ''' Kingdom , domain, or Empire . The corresponding Cellular Life name would be Cytota . '''Non-cellular organisms''' and cellular life would be the only two subdivisions of earthly life -- also known as terrestrial organisms, Biota , Naturae , or Vitae. The issue of life ''without'' cellular structure came to the fore with the 2003 discovery that the large and complex '' Mimivirus '' can make some Protein s that are involved in the synthesis of proteins. This discovery suggests the possibility that some viruses may have evolved from earlier forms that could produce proteins independent of a host cell. If so, there may at one time have been a ''viral'' domain of life. Also, since most viruses have not been isolated and studied, it is theoretically possible that there may still be some undiscovered viruses on Earth that can produce their own Protein s without the aid of a host cell. It is not clear that all small viruses have originated from more complex viruses by means of genome size reduction. A viral domain of life may only be relevant to certain large viruses such as ''nucleocytoplasmic'' large DNA Virus es like the ''Mimivirus''. When considering non-cellular life, besides Virus es, other forms might also be included, like Viroid s, Satellite s, Plasmid s, Phagemid s, Cosmid s, Transposon s and Prion s. SEE ALSO |
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