Biotechnology and its Applications — Questions & Answers

Sample questions from Biotechnology and its Applications

1. Q1. A foreign pharmaceutical company obtains a licence from the Indian government, collects a medicinal plant with formal authorisation and pays an agreed royalty to the local community for using its traditional knowledge. According to the NCERT definition, is this biopiracy?

   • A.Yes, because any use of Indian bio-resources by a foreign company is biopiracy
   • B.No, because biopiracy specifically means use of bio-resources without proper authorisation and compensatory payment✓
   • C.Yes, because traditional knowledge can never be licensed
   • D.No, because plants are not considered bio-resources
   Solution

   Biopiracy is the use of bio-resources by multinational companies and other organisations without proper authorisation from the countries and people concerned and without compensatory payment. Since both authorisation and compensation are present here, it does not meet the definition.

2. Q2. Which conclusion can be drawn from the observation that over 95 per cent of existing transgenic animals are mice?

   • A.Transgenic technology is impossible in any other animal
   • B.Mice are the only animals with a complete genome sequence
   • C.The mouse is the dominant model organism for such work, so most published transgenic animal research rests on rodent physiology✓
   • D.Transgenic mice are used only for producing milk proteins
   Solution

   The statement that first transgenic animals were mice and that more than 95 per cent of all existing transgenic animals are mice reflects the dominance of the mouse as a model organism. Transgenic cows, sheep, pigs, fish, rats and rabbits have also been produced, so the technology is not restricted to mice.

3. Q3. Transgenic fish research exploring introduction of a growth hormone gene from one fish species into another aims primarily to achieve which practical outcome?

   • A.Increased growth rate and/or size in the genetically modified fish, potentially benefiting aquaculture production✓
   • B.Complete elimination of the need for any fish farming
   • C.No practical outcome is targeted by this research
   • D.Decreased growth rate as the intended goal
   Solution

   Transgenic fish engineered to express an additional growth hormone gene (sometimes from a different fish species) have been researched for their potential to exhibit accelerated growth rates and/or larger final size, a trait of interest for improving aquaculture productivity.

4. Q4. Bt cotton seed lots are compared for the number of cry genes they carry. Farmers are advised that a line carrying two different cry genes delays the appearance of resistant bollworm populations better than a line carrying one. The best reason is that:

   • A.An insect would have to acquire changes affecting two different toxin-receptor interactions simultaneously, which is far less probable than one✓
   • B.Two genes double the alkalinity of the insect gut
   • C.Two genes make the protoxin active inside the plant as well
   • D.Two genes allow the plant to kill sap-sucking pests too
   Solution

   Different Cry proteins bind different midgut targets. Resistance to one toxin does not confer resistance to the other, so an insect must accumulate two independent changes, a much rarer event. Neither gut pH nor the host range of Bt is altered by stacking genes.

5. Q5. The production of recombinant blood clotting factors (such as Factor VIII, used to treat hemophilia) using genetic engineering primarily addressed which historical safety concern associated with earlier plasma-derived clotting factor products?

   • A.Risk of transmitting blood-borne infectious agents (such as certain viruses) present in pooled human plasma used for earlier extraction-based clotting factor production✓
   • B.No safety concern existed with earlier plasma-derived products
   • C.Recombinant production increased infectious disease transmission risk compared to plasma-derived products
   • D.Clotting factors have no relationship to any historical production safety concerns
   Solution

   Earlier plasma-derived clotting factor products, produced from pooled human plasma donations, carried a documented risk of transmitting blood-borne infectious agents present in contaminated donor plasma; recombinant DNA-based production of clotting factors (like Factor VIII) using genetically engineered cell systems addressed this specific contamination risk, since it does not rely on pooled human plasma as the source material.

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