Material Capable of Self- Replication

Biological material includes material that is capable of

self-replication either directly or indirectly. Direct self-replication includes those

situations where the biological material reproduces by itself. Representative examples

of materials capable of self-replication are defined in the rule. Indirect

self-replication is meant to include those situations where the biological material is

only capable of replication when another self-replicating biological material is

present. Self-replication after insertion in a host is one example of indirect

self-replication. Examples of indirect replicating biological materials include viruses,

phages, plasmids, symbionts, and replication defective cells. The list of representative

examples of each type of replicating material includes viruses to demonstrate that the

two lists in the rule are not intended to be mutually exclusive.