Question

Select the wrong statement.

• A. The term ' contagium vivum flu id urn' was coined by M. W. Beijerinck.
• B. Mosaic disease in tobacco and AIDS in hu- man being are caused by viruses.
• C. The viroids were discovered by D.J. Ivanowsky.
• D. W.M. Stanley showed that viruses could be crystallised.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

In order to determine the wrong statement, let's analyze each of the given options based on known scientific facts:

1. The term 'contagium vivum fluidum' was coined by M. W. Beijerinck.
   This is a correct statement. Martinus Willem Beijerinck, a Dutch microbiologist and botanist, coined the term "contagium vivum fluidum," meaning "contagious living fluid." He used this term during his research on what we now know as viruses.
2. Mosaic disease in tobacco and AIDS in human being are caused by viruses.
   This statement is correct. Mosaic disease in tobacco is caused by the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV), and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) in humans is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
3. The viroids were discovered by D.J. Ivanowsky.
   This statement is incorrect. Viroids were discovered by Theodor O. Diener in 1971. D.J. Ivanowsky, a Russian scientist, is credited with discovering the Tobacco Mosaic Virus along with Beijerinck and others, but not viroids.
4. W.M. Stanley showed that viruses could be crystallised.
   This statement is correct. Wendell Meredith Stanley was an American biochemist who crystallized the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) in 1935, showing that viruses could be isolated and studied as discrete entities.

Based on the above analysis, the option "The viroids were discovered by D.J. Ivanowsky" is the wrong statement because Theodor O. Diener, not Ivanowsky, discovered viroids.