Practice question
Question
Which of the following is a key distinguishing characteristic of the RNA found in viroids?
Explanation
Viroids are primitive, naked strands of infectious RNA. Beyond lacking a protein capsid, specifies an important biochemical characteristic: the free RNA of the viroid is consistently of 'low molecular weight' compared to the massive RNA genomes found in typical RNA viruses. This tiny strand of RNA is nonetheless sufficient to hijack plant cellular machinery and cause severe diseases.
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