NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Answer and Explanation: The correct answer is (a) prions. Prions are infectious agents made up of proteins. Prions do not contain nucleic acid.

Detailed explanation-2: -Prions are proteinaceous infectious agents-Prions do not have nucleic acid. Prions are considered to be the causative agents of Creutzfeld Jakob disease, scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and kuru.

Detailed explanation-3: -In contrast to viruses or bacteria, unprecedentedly, prions consist of amino acids but lack nucleic acids.

Detailed explanation-4: -A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein in a misfolded form. This is the central idea of the Prion Hypothesis, which remains debated. This is in contrast to all other known infectious agents (virus /bacteria/fungus/parasite) which must contain nucleic acids (either DNA, RNA, or both).

Detailed explanation-5: -All true viruses contain nucleic acid-either DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) or RNA (ribonucleic acid)-and protein. The nucleic acid encodes the genetic information unique for each virus.