Viruses are biological hijackers. They attack a living cell and force it to make many new viruses, often destroying the cell in the process. Picornaviruses, or “little RNA viruses,” are among the most simple viruses. They are composed of a modular protein shell, which seeks out and binds to a target cell surface, surrounding a short piece of RNA, which contains all of the information needed to co-opt the cell’s machinery and direct the construction of new viruses. 

PubMed