GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

• They are ultramicroscopic in size

• they do not have a cell wall

• they do not have cellular organization

• they cannot survive or reproduce outside the host cell

• they are obligatory intracellular parasites

• they contain either DNA or RNA but never both

• there is no protein synthesis machinery

• they do not grow but replicate

• they can pass through bacterial filters

• they can be crystallized

LIVING CHARACTERS

• They contain either DNA or RNA as genetic material.
• They undergo mutations
• they are capable of multiplication.
• they are parasites and show very high host specificity
• they can be transmitted from one host to another.
• they react to heat, radiation and chemicals.
• they are ultramicroscopic disease producing entities.

NON LIVING CHARACTERS

• They can be crystallized
• They are inert outside the host.
• They do not posses cell wall
• They do not posses cellular machinery
• They are unaffected by antimicrobial antibiotics.
• They do not have energy producing enzyme systems