The key difference between virus and prion is that the virus is a tiny infectious particle composed of nucleic acids and a protein coat while the prion is a small infectious particle composed of a single protein.
There are different types of biological entities studied by microbiologists. Among them, virus and prion are two types of acellular infectious particles. They are not considered as living organisms since they show more non-living characteristics than living characteristics. Similarly, they do not contain ribosomes and enzymes to synthesize proteins. Hence, they need a living organism (host) to multiply. Furthermore, they cannot be observed under the light microscopes, and they cannot be filtered out by Chamberland filters. Moreover, they are not culturable in nutrient media. The difference between virus and prion is mainly due to their composition. Viruses consist of nucleic acids and proteins while prions consist only of proteins. Likewise, there are several differences between virus and prion which this article will discuss.
