Biology

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology

2,010 Questions

Genetic engineering and biotechnology involve modifying organism DNA to develop transgenic crops, medical treatments, and industrial solutions. This field covers essential techniques like hybridoma technology, molecular markers, and gene transfer in eukaryotic cells. These biology topics are essential for aspirants preparing for various competitive examinations.

Genetic engineering techniquesTransgenic organismsIndustrial biotechnologyGMOs and bioremediation

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Questions

Multiple choice

Which of the following best describes 'pharming'?

  1. Large-scale production of cloned animals

  2. Animals being used in transgenic research

  3. Synthesis of a drug by a transgenic animal

  4. Synthesis of recombinant drugs by bacteria

  5. Plants making genetically-altered foods
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

'Pharming' is the synthesis of a drug by a transgenic animal.

Multiple choice

The full form of GEAC is

  1. Genetic Engineering Approval Council

  2. Genetic Engineering Approval Commission

  3. Genomic Engineering Action Committee

  4. Genetic Engineering Approval Committee

  5. Genetic Engineering Action Committee
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The correct expansion of GEAC is Genetic Engineering Approval Committee.

Multiple choice

Plants whose genes have been altered by manipulation are called genetically modified (GM) plants. GM plants have been useful in many ways. Which of the following is incorrect about GM plants?

  1. Enhanced nutritional value of food like golden rice

  2. Increased efficiency of mineral usage by plants to prevent early exhaustion of fertility of soil

  3. Helped to decrease post-harvest losses

  4. Made crops less tolerant to abiotic stresses like cold, drought, salt and heat
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Genetic modification made crops more tolerant to abiotic stresses like cold, drought, salt and heat.

Multiple choice

Consider the following statements:

  1. Genetically modified crops are plants, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering techniques.
  2. Genetically modified crops are also known as biotech crops.
  3. Genetic engineering techniques are much more precise than mutagenesis.

Which of the statements given is/are true?

  1. Only 1 & 2

  2. Only 1 & 3

  3. Only 1

  4. 1, 2 & 3
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Genetically modified crops (GM crops, or biotech crops) are plants, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering techniques, to resist pests and agents causing harm to plants and to improve the growth of these plants to assist in farmer's efficiency. Genetic engineering techniques are much more precise than mutagenesis (mutation breeding) where an organism is exposed to radiation or chemicals to create a non-specific but stable change.

Multiple choice

Why is Agrobacterium tumefasciens known as “natural genetic engineer”?

  1. It has the natural ability to insert a part of its plasmid DNA into a plant’s genomic DNA.

  2. It contains a plasmid that can cut out genes from the plant genome.

  3. It contains a gene that codes for a protein similar to human insulin.

  4. It causes tumors in plants and changes its protein expression.

  5. Its plasmid codes for an insecticidal toxin-producing gene.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Agrobacterium tumefasciens has a tumor-inducing plasmid, which has a specific region called T-DNA. This T-DNA gets integrated in the plant genome. Since it happens as a natural phenomenon, the bacterium is called a natural genetic engineer.

Multiple choice

In which of the following stages of genetic engineering is a probe used?

  1. Cutting the target DNA

  2. Cloning rDNA

  3. Screening for recombinants

  4. Recombination of target DNA and vector

  5. Insertion of rDNA in a host cell
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

To know which host cells have taken up the recombined DNA, a radioactive nucleic acid probe, complementary to the gene of interest is added to the growth media. It enters the cells and if a cell contains the gene of interest, it binds to that region of DNA. The colony that emits radioactivity indicates the presence of the gene.

Multiple choice

Consider the following statements: (1) A clone is a genetically modified copy of an organism. (2) A chromosome is a subunit of a gene.

Which of the given statements is/are correct?

  1. Only (1)

  2. Only (2)

  3. Both (1) and (2)

  4. Neither (1) nor (2)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Statement (1) is incorrect. Cloning is a process used to make an identical copy of DNA fragments (molecular cloning), cells (cell cloning), or organisms. Statement (2) is incorrect.  A gene is a subunit of DNA, which is a further subunit of chromosome.

Multiple choice

Consider the following statements:

  1. In ‘Bt cotton and Bt brinjal’, the common term ‘Bt’ refers to as Bacterial technique.
  2. The twins whose bodies are joined together at birth are called fratenal twins.

Which of the given statements is/are correct?

  1. Only (1)

  2. Only (2)

  3. Both (1) and (2)

  4. Neither (1) nor (2)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Statement (1) is incorrect. In ‘Bt cotton and Bt brinjal’, the common term ‘Bt’ refers to as Bacillus thuringiensis, a common soil bacterium. When Bt is placed before a plant name, such as in Bt Brinjal, it means the plant has been genetically modified to produce a protein toxic to certain insects in the same way the bacteria does. Statement (2) is also incorrect. The twins whose bodies are joined together at birth are called conjoined/ Siamese twins.

Multiple choice

'Cloning', according to the writer, would be one of the greatest milestones of human intellectual development because

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:


Like the geography of the planet, the human body has, until now, represented a fixed point in human experience, a ‘given’. Today we are fast approaching the day when the body can no longer be regarded as fixed. Man will be able, within a reasonably short period, to redesign not merely individual bodies, but the entire human race.
In 1962 Drs. J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick received the Nobel Prize for describing the DNA molecules. Since then advances in genetics have come tripping over one another at a rapid pace. Molecular biology is now about to explode from the laboratories. New genetic knowledge will permit us to tinker with human heredity and manipulate the genes to create altogether new versions of man.
One of the more fantastic possibilities is that man will be able to make biological carbon copies of himself. Through a process called ‘cloning’ it will be possible to grow from the nucleus of an adult cell a new organism that has the same genetic characteristics of the person contributing the cell nucleus. The resultant human ‘copy’ would start life with a genetic endowment identical to that of the donor, although cultural differences might thereafter alter the personality or physical development of the clone.
Cloning will make it possible for people to see themselves born anew, to fill the world with twins of themselves. Cloning would, among other things, provide us with solid empirical evidence to help us resolve, once and for all, the ancient controversy over ‘nature v nurture’ or ‘heredity v environment’. The solution of this problem, through the determination of the role played by each, would be one of the greatest milestones of human intellectual development. Whole libraries of philosophical speculation could, by a single stroke, be rendered irrelevant. An answer to this question would open the way for speedy, qualitative advances in psychology, moral philosophy and a dozen other fields.
But cloning could also create undreamed of complications for the race. There is a certain charm to the idea of Albert Einstein bequeathing copies of himself to posterity. But what of Adolf Hitler? Should there be laws to regulate cloning? Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg, a scientist who takes his social responsibility very seriously, believes it conceivable that those most likely to replicate themselves will be those who are most narcissistic, and that the clones they produce will also be narcissists.
Even if narcissism, however, is culturally rather than biologically transmitted, there are other eerie difficulties. Thus Lederberg raises a question as to whether human cloning, if permitted, might not ‘go critical.’ ‘I use that phrase,’ he told me, ‘in almost exactly the same sense that is involved in nuclear energy. It will go critical if there is a sufficient positive advantage to doing so....This has to do with whether the efficiency of communication, particularly along educational lines, is increased as between identical genotypes or not. The similarity of neurological hardware might make it easier for identical copies to transmit technical and other insights from one generation to the next.’

  1. it will enable man to make a biological carbon copy of himself

  2. it will enable man to see himself born anew

  3. it will resolve an ancient controversy that has bothered mankind so long

  4. it will settle the superiority of man over nature and environment

  5. it will create undreamed of complications for the race
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

(1) Great achievement indeed. But the writer does not see it as the reason why it should be considered as one of the greatest milestones of human intellectual development. (2) Man may derive pleasure from this knowledge, but this is hardly the reason why it should be regarded as a milestone of human intellectual development. (3) The writer attributes it to being the solid empirical evidence to help resolve the ancient controversy between 'nature v nurture' and 'heredity v environment' and cites this as the single most important factor for calling it one of the greatest milestones of human intellectual development. (4) This may be one of areas of glee for the mankind, but clearly is not the angst of the writer of this passage. (5) The writer gives clear indication of this possibility. But it is not because of this that he considers this to be one of the greatest milestones of human intellectual development.

Multiple choice

What, according to the passage, will enable man 'to redesign not merely individual bodies, but the entire human race'? (a) DNA Molecules (b) Advances in genetics (c) Molecular biology (d) New genetic knowledge (e) Biological carbon copies

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:


Like the geography of the planet, the human body has, until now, represented a fixed point in human experience, a ‘given’. Today we are fast approaching the day when the body can no longer be regarded as fixed. Man will be able, within a reasonably short period, to redesign not merely individual bodies, but the entire human race.
In 1962 Drs. J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick received the Nobel Prize for describing the DNA molecules. Since then advances in genetics have come tripping over one another at a rapid pace. Molecular biology is now about to explode from the laboratories. New genetic knowledge will permit us to tinker with human heredity and manipulate the genes to create altogether new versions of man.
One of the more fantastic possibilities is that man will be able to make biological carbon copies of himself. Through a process called ‘cloning’ it will be possible to grow from the nucleus of an adult cell a new organism that has the same genetic characteristics of the person contributing the cell nucleus. The resultant human ‘copy’ would start life with a genetic endowment identical to that of the donor, although cultural differences might thereafter alter the personality or physical development of the clone.
Cloning will make it possible for people to see themselves born anew, to fill the world with twins of themselves. Cloning would, among other things, provide us with solid empirical evidence to help us resolve, once and for all, the ancient controversy over ‘nature v nurture’ or ‘heredity v environment’. The solution of this problem, through the determination of the role played by each, would be one of the greatest milestones of human intellectual development. Whole libraries of philosophical speculation could, by a single stroke, be rendered irrelevant. An answer to this question would open the way for speedy, qualitative advances in psychology, moral philosophy and a dozen other fields.
But cloning could also create undreamed of complications for the race. There is a certain charm to the idea of Albert Einstein bequeathing copies of himself to posterity. But what of Adolf Hitler? Should there be laws to regulate cloning? Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg, a scientist who takes his social responsibility very seriously, believes it conceivable that those most likely to replicate themselves will be those who are most narcissistic, and that the clones they produce will also be narcissists.
Even if narcissism, however, is culturally rather than biologically transmitted, there are other eerie difficulties. Thus Lederberg raises a question as to whether human cloning, if permitted, might not ‘go critical.’ ‘I use that phrase,’ he told me, ‘in almost exactly the same sense that is involved in nuclear energy. It will go critical if there is a sufficient positive advantage to doing so....This has to do with whether the efficiency of communication, particularly along educational lines, is increased as between identical genotypes or not. The similarity of neurological hardware might make it easier for identical copies to transmit technical and other insights from one generation to the next.’

  1. Only (a)

  2. Only (a) & (b)

  3. Only (a), (b) & (c)

  4. Only (a), (b), (c) & (d)

  5. All (a), (b), (c), (d) & (e)

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Clue to all these is provided in the second paragraph of the passage. DNA molecules were described by the Nobel Prize winner and the subsequent advances in genetics led to molecular biology and this new genetic knowledge will enable man to impact the entire human race. First four constitute the correct answer, but 5) the biological carbon copies is the result. Hence, not part of the answer.