Molecular Basis of Inheritance Question 17

17. T.O. Diener discovered a:

[2009]

(a) free infectious DNA

(b) infectious protein

(c) bacteriophage

(d) free infectious RNA

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Answer : d

Hints & Solution

(d) Theodor O. Diener discovered the Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid (“PSTVd”), the first viroid ever identified, in 1971. PSTVd is a small, circular RNA molecule. Dr. Diener discovered that the pathogen causing potato spindle tuber disease is not a virus, as previously believed, but a much smaller, free RNA molecule.