In 1898, Dutch microbiologist Martinus Beijerinck published groundbreaking findings on tobacco mosaic disease, demonstrating that the causative agent could pass unhindered through porcelain Chamberland filters fine enough to trap all known bacteria. While earlier researcher Dmitri Ivanovsky had concluded in 1892 that the filtered sap merely contained an unfilterable bacterial toxin or minuscule unculturable microbes, Beijerinck established that the agent was capable of replicating, albeit exclusively within actively dividing host plant tissue. Crucially, Beijerinck noted that while the agent was promptly inactivated when exposed to boiling water, it remained completely unaffected by precipitation with alcohol or prolonged desiccation in dry air. Terming the entity a contagium vivum fluidum to emphasize its non-cellular, soluble nature, Beijerinck distinguished it from cellular pathogens by demonstrating that it could not be cultivated in nutrient broth media devoid of living cells.
According to the passage, which of the following is explicitly stated regarding the pathogen responsible for tobacco mosaic disease in Beijerinck's experiments?
- It retained its functional viability despite being subjected to alcohol precipitation.Answer
- BIt was capable of autonomous replication within nutrient broth media lacking plant cells.
- CIt retained its infectious capacity even after exposure to boiling water.
- DIt was identified by Ivanovsky as a non-cellular contagium vivum fluidum.
- EIt was completely destroyed when subjected to conditions of prolonged desiccation.