GM organisms Flashcards
Plant cells are multipotent. True or false?
False - plant cells are totipotent and can give rise to any type of plant cell.
You can alter just one plant cell and produce an entirely new plant. True or false?
True - plants often reproduce by asexual reproduction, so changing one cell can give rise to an entirely different individual.
What does Agrobacterium tumefaciens do to plants?
Uses horizontal gene transfer of a T-plasmid to cause tumour/disregulated growth.
Biolistics requires use of a ‘gene gun’. What does this mean?
Tiny metal particles coated in DNA are fired into living cells via a ‘gun’.
What are gene guns powered by?
Helium
What metal are the ‘bullets’ of a gene gun made out of?
Tungsten or gold.
What happens once a gene gun has been fired into a cell?
The cell should incorporate the DNA on the bullets into its genome.
Crops can be GMed. Give 3 reasons why.
- To increase yield
- To withstand herbi/pesticides
- To withstand environmental conditions
Corn borers are pests to corn plants. Corn plants (in the USA) have thus been GMed to produce Bacillus thuringiensis proteins. What does this mean?
The plants produce delta-endotoxins that are pore-forming to kill the insects when they eat the corn.
What is an advantage to GMing crops to have pest resistance?
You need to use less pesticide on them.
Vitamin A deficiency kills how many under 5 year olds a year worldwide?
~700,000.
Why is Golden Rice important?
Oryza sativa rice was GMed to produce 23x the normal amount of beta-carotene (Vitamin A).
Define Enogen.
Maize (corn) seeds produce alpha amylase. This converts starch to sugar, so it can be used in the biofuels industry.
Give an advantage of Enogen.
It reduces energy and costs of biofuel production.
Animal cells are not clonal or totipotent. In order to GM a whole animal, you can only alter a developing embryo. True or false?
False - you can also alter the germline cells of the parents.