Scientists identify a new type of infectious agent that causes disease in humans. They hypothesize that this agent is a viroid. Which of the following observations best supports this hypothesis?A.The agent is surrounded by a protein coat that promotes entry into human cells.B.The agent lacks genetic material but can still replicate inside human cells.C.The agent is found to be composed entirely of a single circular RNA molecule.D.When exposed to the agent, endogenous human proteins become misfolded.
Question
Scientists identify a new type of infectious agent that causes disease in humans. They hypothesize that this agent is a viroid. Which of the following observations best supports this hypothesis?A.The agent is surrounded by a protein coat that promotes entry into human cells.B.The agent lacks genetic material but can still replicate inside human cells.C.The agent is found to be composed entirely of a single circular RNA molecule.D.When exposed to the agent, endogenous human proteins become misfolded.
Solution
The observation that best supports the hypothesis that the new infectious agent is a viroid is C. The agent is found to be composed entirely of a single circular RNA molecule.
This is because viroids are known to be small, circular RNA molecules that can infect plants and some animals. They do not have a protein coat (which rules out option A) and they do contain genetic material, specifically RNA (which rules out option B). Viroids do not cause proteins to misfold (which rules out option D). Therefore, the presence of a single circular RNA molecule is the most indicative that the infectious agent could be a viroid.
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