Unité d'Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR8079, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2012;34(3):391-406.
The last decade has seen a revival of old virocentric ideas. These concepts are heterogeneous, extending from proposals that consider viruses functionally as living beings and/or as descendants of viral lineages that preceded cell evolution to other claims that consider viruses and/or some viral families a fourth domain of life. While the debates about whether viruses are alive or not and whether some virus-like replicators preceded the first cells fall under the long-lasting dichotomous view on the nature and origin of life (metabolism- versus replication-first), the claim that some giant viruses form a fourth domain in an organismal tree of life is not consistent with current evidence and can be falsified.
过去十年见证了旧的病毒中心主义观念的复兴。这些概念是多种多样的，从将病毒从功能上视为生物和/或细胞进化前病毒谱系的后代的提议，到将病毒和/或某些病毒家族视为生命的第四个领域的其他说法都有涉及。虽然关于病毒是否有生命以及某些类似病毒的复制子是否先于第一个细胞存在的争论属于关于生命的性质和起源的长期二分法观点（代谢优先与复制优先），但一些巨型病毒构成生命有机体树的第四个领域的说法与当前证据不一致，并且可以被证伪。
