What Is The Difference Between Viruses And Bacteria?

There are many differences. In general, bacteria are many times larger than viruses, although both types of organisms exist as different types and vary in size.

Bacteria are quite complex in their structure. They have a cell wall and membrane, which can be surrounded by a slimy layer called the capsule. Inside they have their own DNA and ribosomes, tiny organelles to make proteins. Many bacteria move my means of a propelling flagella, which is attached to one end. Some can have long filaments that extend from all over their surface ~ these are used to lash out and attached the bacteria to solid surfaces. Bacteria live independently and can colonise any place you can think of.

Viruses, in contrast, are not much more than DNA in a protein packet. A virus tends to have only a handful of genes and it uses these to produce a protein case and enough proteins to get inside the cells of its host. Unlike bacteria, viruses cannot live and reproduce independently ~ they need to hijack the machinery of another cell. This can be a bacterium, an animal cell or a plant cell. Viruses do not survive very well outside their hosts and survive only by moving from one host cell to another.

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