As a biologist with a focus on microbiology, I have a deep understanding of the characteristics of living organisms and the peculiarities of viruses. Let's delve into the characteristics of living organisms that viruses do not possess.

Firstly, it's important to recognize that viruses are at the edge of life's definition. They exhibit some traits of living organisms but lack others. The characteristics of life traditionally include being composed of cells, metabolism, growth, response to stimuli, reproduction, and adaptation. Let's examine these in the context of viruses.

Composition of Cells: Viruses are not made up of cells. Unlike all other forms of life, viruses do not have a cellular structure. They are acellular entities, which means they lack the organelles and cellular machinery that characterize living cells.

Metabolism: Viruses do not have their own metabolic processes. Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms, allowing them to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Viruses cannot carry out these processes independently; they rely on the host cell's metabolic machinery to replicate.

Growth: Living organisms grow and develop. Growth in the context of life usually refers to an increase in size or complexity. Viruses do not grow in the traditional sense; they do not increase in size or complexity over time without infecting a host cell.

Response to Stimuli: Organisms respond to stimuli from their environment. This response can be immediate or involve learning and memory. Viruses do not have the ability to sense or respond to environmental stimuli in the way that living organisms do.

Reproduction: While viruses can reproduce, they do so in a manner that is fundamentally different from living organisms. They require a host cell to replicate. Viruses inject their genetic material into the host and use the host's cellular machinery to produce new virus particles, a process known as replication rather than reproduction in the traditional sense.

Adaptation: Viruses can evolve and adapt to their hosts over time, which is a characteristic of living organisms. However, this adaptation is limited to changes in their genetic material that allow them to better infect and survive within their hosts, not to changes in their physical form or function.

Now, let's address the misconceptions mentioned in the prompt. Viruses are indeed composed of proteins and glycoproteins, similar to the components of cellular membranes. They do contain genetic information in the form of DNA or RNA, which is necessary for them to produce more viruses. However, the presence of these characteristics does not automatically confer living status to viruses due to the absence of other vital life processes.

Translation into Chinese:

作为一名专注于微生物学的生物学家，我对生物体的特征以及病毒的特殊性有着深入的理解。让我们深入探讨病毒不具备的生物体特征。

首先，重要的是要认识到病毒处于生命定义的边缘。它们表现出一些生物体的特征，但也缺乏其他特征。生命的特性传统上包括由细胞组成、新陈代谢、生长、对刺激的反应、繁殖和适应。让我们在病毒的背景下检查这些特性。

细胞组成：病毒不是由细胞组成的。与所有其他生命形式不同，病毒没有细胞结构。它们是非细胞实体，这意味着它们缺乏特征性活细胞的细胞器和细胞机制。

新陈代谢：病毒没有自己的代谢过程。新陈代谢是生物体内维持生命的一系列化学反应，允许它们生长和繁殖，维持它们的结构，并对其环境做出反应。病毒不能独立进行这些过程；它们依赖宿主细胞的代谢机制进行复制。

生长：生物体生长和发展。生命背景下的生长通常指的是大小或复杂性的增加。病毒在传统意义上不会生长；它们不会随着时间的推移而增加大小或复杂性，除非感染宿主细胞。

对刺激的反应：有机体对其环境的刺激做出反应。这种反应可以是立即的，也可以涉及学习和记忆。病毒没有能力以生物体的方式感知或对环境刺激做出反应。

繁殖：虽然病毒可以繁殖，但它们的繁殖方式与生物体根本不同。它们需要宿主细胞来复制。病毒将其遗传物质注入宿主体内，并利用宿主的细胞机制产生新的病毒颗粒，这个过程被称为复制，而不是传统意义上的繁殖。

适应：病毒可以随着时间的推移进化并适应其宿主，这是生物体的一个特征。然而，这种适应仅限于允许它们更好地感染和在宿主体内存活其遗传物质的变化，而不是对其物理形态或功能的任何变化。

现在，让我们解决提示中提到的误解。病毒确实由蛋白质和糖蛋白组成，类似于细胞膜的成分。它们确实包含以DNA或RNA形式的遗传信息，这对于它们产生更多病毒是必要的。然而，这些特征的存在并不自动赋予病毒生命状态，因为它们缺乏其他重要的生命过程。

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Viruses do, however, show some characteristics of living things. They are made of proteins and glycoproteins like cells are. They contain genetic information needed to produce more viruses in the form of DNA or RNA. They evolve to adapt to their hosts.read more >>