Consider the following statements : I. No virus can survive in ocean waters. II. No virus can infect bacteria. III. No virus can change the cellular transcriptional activity in host cells. How many of the statements given above are correct?

States that polluted water contains pathogens like viruses, implying viruses can be present in aquatic environments.

A student could combine this with knowledge of sewage discharge and coastal sampling to investigate whether marine waters near pollution sources contain viable viruses.

Lists key environmental variables in oceans (temperature, salinity, light) that influence which organisms persist, implying these factors would also affect virus stability.

Use standard facts about how temperature, salinity and light affect biomolecule stability to predict where viruses might persist (e.g., colder, less UV-exposed zones).

Notes higher solar UV-B exposure in tropics affects organisms, suggesting sunlight/UV is an environmental factor that could inactivate viruses at the surface.

A student could infer that viruses may be less stable in surface tropical waters with strong UV, and more stable in deeper or turbid waters with less UV penetration.

Describes ocean currents and thermohaline circulation delivering water masses and oxygen, showing physical transport and mixing that would disperse or dilute microbes and viruses.

Combine with a map of currents to predict dispersion pathways from point sources (e.g., river mouths or sewage outfalls) to assess where viruses might travel and persist.

Explains that UV-induced degradation is much slower for plastics in the sea, indicating that the marine surface environment can reduce degradation processes compared with land.

This suggests that surfaces or particles in the ocean (e.g., plastics, organic particles) might protect attached viruses from inactivation; a student could look for virus association with marine debris.

Says viruses multiply when they enter a living cell and may infect plant/animal/bacterial cells, implying viruses act inside host cells.

A student could infer that to multiply inside a cell viruses must interact with host molecular machinery (including transcription), so one could look for changes in host gene expression after infection.

Notes viruses reproduce only inside the host organism, distinguishing them from other microbes and indicating dependence on host cellular systems.

From this dependence a student might predict viruses co-opt host processes (e.g., transcription) and test host transcript levels pre- and post-infection.

States viruses show no molecular movement until they infect a cell, highlighting that their active phase is within host cells.

This suggests the active viral phase involves engaging host biochemistry; a student could examine which host biochemical pathways (including transcription) are active after viral entry.

Identifies HIV's main cellular target (helper T cells), showing viruses can specifically affect certain cell types.

Knowing viruses target specific cells, a student could compare transcriptional profiles of those target cells before and after infection to detect virus-induced changes.

Explains that cellular actions depend on chemistry of cellular components and specific proteins under control, indicating cellular behaviour is alterable by molecular changes.

A student could extend this to reason that introducing viral molecules could change cellular chemistry and thus alter transcriptional activity, motivating assays of host RNA levels after infection.