A tiny percentage of prokaryotes are pathogens.All known pathogenic prokaryotes are bacteria, although many archaeal species live with humans and other eukaryotes.What explains this phenomenon?
A) Lateral gene transfer of virulence genes only occurs between bacteria.
B) Bacteria are more closely related to eukaryotes and are therefore better evolved to evade host defenses.
C) Pathogenic traits evolve relatively rarely and do not appear to have evolved in the viruses or plasmids that infect archaea.
D) Archaea are too distantly related to eukaryotes to possess the ability to infect them.
E) Archaea lack the ability to forcibly enter a host, because they lack peptidoglycan.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Pathogenic traits have only been observed to evolve within bacteria, and not in the viruses or plasmids that infect archaea. This may be due to a combination of factors such as differences in their genetic makeup and environment, as well as the rarity of the evolution of pathogenic traits in any organism.

A Tiny Percentage of Prokaryotes Are Pathogens