Question

Assertion: A person suffering from AIDS gets infected with opportunistic infections.
Reason: HIV contains a reverse transcriptase enzyme.

• A. Both assertion and reason are true and reason is the correct explanation of assertion.
  
• B. Both assertion and reason are true but reason is not the correct explanation of assertion.
• C. Assertion is true but the reason is false.
• D. Both assertion and reason are false.

Answer 1

The correct option is B Both assertion and reason are true but reason is not the correct explanation of assertion.

HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus), a retrovirus is the causative organism for an immunodeficiency syndrome (a disease which manifests a set of associated symptoms) known as AIDS or Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

As the virus attacks the macrophages and helper T cells of the body and destroys them, the immune system of an AIDS patient is severely and progressively weakened with time. The patient becomes vulnerable to infections which otherwise could have been easily overcome and are normally harmless, caused by opportunistic pathogens.
HIV is a retrovirus having two single strand RNA, each associated with a reverse transcriptase molecule. The reverse transcriptase enzyme catalyses the conversion of its RNA strands into a double stranded DNA.

The viral DNA integrates itself into the host genome and directs the host cell to synthesise multiple copies of RNA, viral proteins assembled to form viral particles.
Hence, we can conclude that both assertion and reason are true but reason is not the correct explanation of assertion.