Q56: Given below are two statements Statement (I): Diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) is... - Molecular Biology Techniques - Microbiology- ICAR JRF/SRF 2024 | Agrigyan

• Statement (I) is True: Diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) is a strong chemical modifier routinely used to treat water, buffers, and glassware to eliminate ribonuclease (RNase) contamination before RNA isolation and manipulation.
• Statement (II) is False: DEPC is a chemical alkylating agent that carboethoxylates the active-site histidine residues (specifically $N^\epsilon$ or $N^\delta$ of the imidazole ring) of ribonucleases, causing irreversible covalent denaturation, NOT a non-covalent transition state analog.
• Conclusion: Statement (I) is true but Statement (II) is false.

Correct option: (3) Statement (I) is true but Statement (II) is false.