Viruses: Living or Non-Living? — NEET Biology
📚 Practice ConceptOnce they infect a cell, they take over the machinery of the host cell to replicate themselves, killing the host. Would you call viruses living or non-living?
Assertion (A): Viruses can replicate and produce new viral particles. Reason (R): Viruses take over the machinery of the host cell to replicate themselves after infection.
View solution & NCERT explanation
Correct answer: A — If both assertion and reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion.
Both statements are true from NCERT. NCERT states viruses can replicate (Assertion true) and “Once they infect a cell, they take over the machinery of the host cell to replicate themselves” (Reason true). The Reason explains HOW the replication in the Assertion occurs - through hijacking host cellular machinery rather than using their own.
What does NCERT say about Once they infect cell?
Has this concept appeared in NEET?
Which chapter is this from?
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 176 of the 180 ReNEET 2026 (June 21) questions were already in the MedicNEET question bank before the exam.
176/180MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.