Question

State whether true or false.

Microbes can be used to minimise or combat mercury poisoning

• A. Both the assertion and reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation for the assertion.
• B. Both the assertion and reason are true but the reason is not the correct explanation of the assertion.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Both the assertion and reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation for the assertion.

Mercury poisoning refers to the biomagnification of a toxic form of mercury - methymercury in the living systems of organisms in a food chain. Researchers at Inter-American University in Puerto Rico have engineered a bacterium that could withstand 25 times the dosage of mercury that would normally kill a regular bacterium. More importantly, in 5 days, these bacteria removed up to 80% of the dissolved mercury in solution. These newly engineered bacteria could help control mercury poisoning to a great extent and protect thousands of organisms from becoming susceptible to chemical poisoning.