Question

one way to produce a vaccine is to heat a virus or bacterium and then inject the inactive pathogen as a vaccination. how does the heat inactivate a virus?
by inhibiting its metabolism
by destroying the membrane
by blocking facilitated diffusion
by denaturing proteins
all answers are correct

Explanation:

To determine how heat inactivates a virus, we analyze each option:

• Viruses don't have metabolism like cells, so "inhibiting metabolism" is incorrect.
• Viruses (non - enveloped) may not have a membrane, and heat's main effect on viruses isn't membrane destruction.
• Facilitated diffusion is a cell - specific process, and viruses don't use it, so this option is wrong.
• Heat can denature the proteins (like capsid proteins or enzymes in some viruses) that are crucial for the virus's structure and function, which inactivates the virus.

Answer:

D. by denaturing proteins