NEET Biology Biotechnology and its Applications MCQs Set 09

Answer: (a) Biopatenting

Explanation:
1. Laws and rules that prevent unauthorised exploitation of bio-resources and give the inventor exclusive rights are called biopatenting.
2. Biopiracy is the unauthorised use itself, bioethics is the set of moral standards and bioengineering is the technology.

Teacher's Note:
1. A patent protects the inventor.
2. Biopiracy is the offence that patent laws and national rules try to stop.

Answer: (d) The functional insulin has A and B chains linked together by hydrogen bonds.

Explanation:
1. In humans insulin is synthesised as pro-insulin, which has an extra C-peptide that is removed during maturation.
2. Functional insulin has two chains, A and B, held together by disulphide bridges, not hydrogen bonds.
3. Recombinant insulin was produced in E. coli.

Teacher's Note:
1. Mature insulin has A and B chains joined by disulphide bonds.
2. C-peptide is lost on maturation.

Answer: (b) Insect pests

Explanation:
1. The Bt toxin gene from Bacillus thuringiensis makes Bt cotton resistant to insect pests such as bollworms.
2. It gives no protection against fungi, nematodes or predators.

Teacher's Note:
1. Cry proteins are specific to groups of insects.
2. Bt cotton targets bollworms.

Answer: (b) Biopiracy

Explanation:
1. Use of the bio-resources of a nation by multinational companies without proper authorisation from the concerned country is called biopiracy.
2. Bioethics deals with the moral issues of biotechnology.

Teacher's Note:
1. Neem, turmeric and basmati cases are classic biopiracy examples.
2. India has passed laws to prevent it.

Answer: (d) Bioprospecting

Explanation:
1. Exploring molecular, genetic and species level diversity for novel products of economic importance is bioprospecting.
2. Biopiracy is its unauthorised form, and bioremediation uses organisms to clean pollutants.

Teacher's Note:
1. Bioprospecting is lawful exploration of biodiversity.
2. Link prospecting with finding novel products.

Answer: (a) ds-RNA

Explanation:
1. In RNA interference a double-stranded RNA complementary to the mRNA of the target gene silences that gene.
2. The ds RNA triggers the cell's defence which degrades the mRNA.

Teacher's Note:
1. RNAi works by ds RNA and silences specific mRNA.
2. It was used to produce nematode-resistant tobacco.

Answer: (a) It is Vitamin A enriched, with a gene from daffodil

Explanation:
1. Golden rice is rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, and carries genes introduced from daffodil and a bacterium.
2. It is neither pest resistant nor drought tolerant.

Teacher's Note:
1. Golden rice is a vitamin A enriched variety.
2. It addresses vitamin A deficiency.

Answer: (c) Alkaline pH of gut

Explanation:
1. The Bt toxin is produced as an inactive protoxin.
2. In the alkaline gut of the insect, the protoxin is converted into active toxin, which binds to midgut epithelial cells and creates pores.

Teacher's Note:
1. Alkaline pH of the insect gut activates the protoxin.
2. The stomach of mammals is acidic, so Bt is harmless to them.

Answer: (d) Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)

Explanation:
1. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) decides on the validity of GM research and the safety of introducing GM organisms for public use.
2. RCGM is a research body, not the final appraisal authority.

Teacher's Note:
1. GEAC is the apex body for GM approvals in India.
2. Remember its full form.

Answer: (d) Basmati

Explanation:
1. A new variety of rice patented by a foreign company though similar varieties had been present in India for long was basmati.
2. This was a case of biopiracy.

Teacher's Note:
1. Basmati rice, neem and turmeric were the major biopiracy cases.
2. India has many basmati varieties with distinct traits.

Answer: (b) Biopiracy

Explanation:
1. The use of bio-resources by multinational companies and organisations without authorisation from the concerned country and its people is called biopiracy.

Teacher's Note:
1. Biopiracy means unauthorised exploitation of biological resources.
2. National laws are required to stop it.

Answer: (c) Gene therapy

Explanation:
1. In 1990 a four-year-old girl with ADA deficiency received the first clinical gene therapy.
2. Lymphocytes were cultured, a functional ADA cDNA was introduced using a retroviral vector and the cells were returned to the patient.

Teacher's Note:
1. ADA deficiency was the first disease treated by gene therapy.
2. Early diagnosis helps to treat it.

Answer: (d) Disulphide bridges

Explanation:
1. The two polypeptide chains of human insulin, chain A and chain B, are linked together by disulphide bridges.

Teacher's Note:
1. Insulin has 21 amino acids in chain A and 30 in chain B.
2. These two are linked by disulphide bonds.

Answer: (a) Vitamin A

Explanation:
1. Golden rice is genetically modified to synthesise beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body.

Teacher's Note:
1. Golden rice is a source of provitamin A.
2. Golden rice was developed to overcome vitamin A deficiency.

Answer: (c) Cotton

Explanation:
1. Among the Bt crops grown in India, Bt cotton is the one cultivated by farmers on a commercial scale.
2. Bt brinjal was not approved for commercial cultivation.

Teacher's Note:
1. Bt cotton was approved in India in 2002.
2. Bt brinjal is still under debate.

Answer: (b) Mice

Explanation:
1. Mice are the most common transgenic animals, used as models for human diseases and for testing vaccines and drugs.

Teacher's Note:
1. More than 95 per cent of transgenic animals are mice.
2. They are used in toxicity tests and disease models.

Answer: (b) Transgenic mice for testing safety of polio vaccine before use in humans

Explanation:
1. Genetic engineering has produced transgenic mice used to test the safety of the polio vaccine before human use.
2. Rosie, the transgenic cow, produced human protein enriched milk, not high-fat milk.

Teacher's Note:
1. Transgenic animals help in vaccine safety testing.
2. Rosie's milk contained human alpha-lactalbumin.

Answer: (a) High yield and resistance to bollworms

Explanation:
1. Bt cotton has high yield and resistance to bollworms because it carries a Cry gene from Bacillus thuringiensis.
2. The toxin kills lepidopteran, not dipteran or coleopteran, larvae.

Teacher's Note:
1. Bt cotton kills cotton bollworm larvae.
2. Different cry genes kill different insect orders.