UPSC Prelims 2025·GS1·science-and-technology·science and technology

Consider the following statements : I. No virus can survive in ocean waters. II. No virus can infect bacteria. III. No virus can change the cellular transcriptional activity in host cells. How many of the statements given above are correct?

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Last updated 23 May 2026, 3:31 pm IST
  1. AOnly one
  2. BOnly two
  3. CAll the three
  4. DNoneCorrect

Explanation

All three statements about viruses are incorrect: I. No virus can survive in ocean waters: False. Many viruses can survive in ocean waters, and marine viruses play crucial ecological roles. Ocean waters contain billions of viruses per milliliter that infect marine organisms. II. No virus can infect bacteria: False. Bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses that specifically infect bacteria. They are among the most abundant biological entities on Earth and play important roles in bacterial population control. III. No virus can change cellular transcriptional activity in host cells: False. Many viruses actively modify host cell transcription by hijacking cellular machinery, introducing viral transcription factors, or integrating viral DNA into host genomes, fundamentally altering gene expression patterns.
science-and-technology: Consider the following statements : I. No virus can survive in ocean waters. II. No virus can infect bacteria. III. No v
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