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Answer: 3. Infective constituent in viruses is the protein coat.

Key idea: In viruses, the infective part is the nucleic acid (genome), not the protein coat.

Viroids are free RNA without a protein coat; viruses are obligate parasites; prions are abnormally folded proteins. So statement 3 is incorrect. The protein coat (capsid) only protects the genome; the nucleic acid carries infection (Hershey-Chase showed this for DNA phages).

Doubtly AI · 30 Oct 2026 AI-generated · not yet verified Report
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