UPSC Previous Year Question | Prelims GS | 2025

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 above statements are correct?

  1. Only one
  2. Only two
  3. All the three
  4. None

Answer

Correct Answer

None

Explanation

All three statements are factually incorrect: viruses do survive and are abundant in ocean waters; bacteriophages are viruses that specifically infect bacteria; and many viruses do alter/hijack the host cell's transcriptional machinery to replicate. Hence none of the statements is correct.

Topics: biology, science and technology, virology