Question 9
Set 2
Contents
QQuestion
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?
OOptions
✓Correct Answer
DDalvoy Solutions
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.
SUPSC Prelims Strategy and Tips
For virology questions, avoid absolute negative statements about viruses. Viruses are highly diverse and have evolved multiple strategies to survive in various environments and manipulate host cells.