• Assertion (A) is True: $\beta$-lactam antibiotics (e.g., amoxicillin) are co-prescribed with clavulanic acid (e.g., Co-amoxiclav / Augmentin) to restore antibacterial efficacy against resistant pathogen strains.
• Reason (R) is True & Explains (A): Clavulanic acid is a suicide inhibitor (mechanism-based irreversible inhibitor) with structural homology to the $\beta$-lactam nucleus. It binds to the catalytic serine residue of bacterial $\beta$-lactamase enzymes, forming a stable covalent acyl-enzyme adduct that permanently inactivates the enzyme and protects the partner antibiotic.
• Conclusion: Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

Correct option: (1) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)

• Statement (I) is True: During feedback inhibition (allosteric inhibition), the end-product of a biosynthetic pathway binds to an allosteric regulatory site of an early pathway enzyme already present in the cell, rapidly suppressing its catalytic activity post-translationally.
• Statement (II) is True: During enzyme repression, the accumulating end-product acts as a corepressor, binding to an aporepressor to form an active repressor that silences promoter transcription, thereby shutting down the de novo synthesis of the enzyme at the genetic level.
• Conclusion: Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are true.

Correct option: (1) Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are true.