How are viroids different from viruses?
Explanation Viruses are small infectious nucleoprotein particles that replicates only inside the living cell of other organisms. It contains either DNA or RNA inside its protein capsid. Commonly known viruses infecting other organisms are Bacteriophage (bacteria infecting), Tobacco Mosaic Virus (plant infecting), Parvovirus (animal infecting) and HIV ( human infecting). Whereas viroids are infectious particles smaller than any of the known viruses. It contains short circular strand of ssRNA as their nucleic acid and mostly infects plant cells. For example- Potato Spindle Tuber viroid. Opinion: While viruses produce proteins during replication inside the host, the viroids do not produce proteins and infect only plant cells. Final Answer Viruses and viroids differ on the basis of their size, ability to produce proteins during replication and mode of infection.
