Question

Question 1 1 pts Which of the following is true? Viruses cannot evolve because they are not technically alive; they cannot replicate on their own When viruses hijack a host's cells to replicate, mistakes made in the copying of their DNA or RNA can generate a huge number of genetic variants in the virus population A mutation in the molecules involved in binding to a host cell that allows binding to a new host species will not affect the virus's ability to infect the original host O A mutation in a virus that allows infection of a new host will immediately result in an epidemic Question 2 1 pts The most likely origin of COVID-19 (the coronavirus that is currently a pandemic) is: O A virus previously present in the human population that evolved to become more virulent and infective A biologically engineered virus released as a bioweapon A biologically engineered virus that accidentally escaped from a lab A virus present in another species of animal that had a mutation that allowed it to infect humans Question 3 1 pts Pathogens evolve very quickly because... They often have large population sizes within the host, which maintains genetic variation They reproduce quickly and have lots of offspring, and more replications = more chances for mutation They can "swap" genetic variants between different strains (horizontal gene transfer) All of the above

Answer 1

Answer 1: b is correct

When virus hijack a host cells to replicate ,mistakes made during copying their DNA or RNA can generate a huge number of genetic variants in virus population.It is because of mutation. A mutation is a permanent change in the genetic material (DNA or RNA) of a virus. A mutation can happen if there is a mistake during copying of the DNA or RNA of the virus.

Option (a) is false because virus mutate at faster rate.

Option (c) is also incorrect because a mutation in a molecule involved in binding to host cellthat allows binding to a new host species will affect the virus ability to infect the original host.

Option (d) is wrong because mutation in virus that infect new host will not result in  immediate epidemic.

Answer 2: correct option (a).

The most likely origin of COVID-19 is a virus previously present in human population that evolved to become more virulent and infective.

Answer 3:(b)

Pathogen evolve very quickly because they reproduce very quickly and have lots of offsprings and more replication has more chances of mutation.