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Fundamentals of Molecular Biology > GM organisms > Flashcards

GM organisms Flashcards

1
Q

Plant cells are multipotent. True or false?

A

False - plant cells are totipotent and can give rise to any type of plant cell.

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2
Q

You can alter just one plant cell and produce an entirely new plant. True or false?

A

True - plants often reproduce by asexual reproduction, so changing one cell can give rise to an entirely different individual.

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3
Q

What does Agrobacterium tumefaciens do to plants?

A

Uses horizontal gene transfer of a T-plasmid to cause tumour/disregulated growth.

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4
Q

Biolistics requires use of a ‘gene gun’. What does this mean?

A

Tiny metal particles coated in DNA are fired into living cells via a ‘gun’.

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5
Q

What are gene guns powered by?

A

Helium

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6
Q

What metal are the ‘bullets’ of a gene gun made out of?

A

Tungsten or gold.

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7
Q

What happens once a gene gun has been fired into a cell?

A

The cell should incorporate the DNA on the bullets into its genome.

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8
Q

Crops can be GMed. Give 3 reasons why.

A
  1. To increase yield
  2. To withstand herbi/pesticides
  3. To withstand environmental conditions
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9
Q

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?

A

The plants produce delta-endotoxins that are pore-forming to kill the insects when they eat the corn.

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10
Q

What is an advantage to GMing crops to have pest resistance?

A

You need to use less pesticide on them.

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11
Q

Vitamin A deficiency kills how many under 5 year olds a year worldwide?

A

~700,000.

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12
Q

Why is Golden Rice important?

A

Oryza sativa rice was GMed to produce 23x the normal amount of beta-carotene (Vitamin A).

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13
Q

Define Enogen.

A

Maize (corn) seeds produce alpha amylase. This converts starch to sugar, so it can be used in the biofuels industry.

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14
Q

Give an advantage of Enogen.

A

It reduces energy and costs of biofuel production.

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15
Q

Animal cells are not clonal or totipotent. In order to GM a whole animal, you can only alter a developing embryo. True or false?

A

False - you can also alter the germline cells of the parents.

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16
Q

What is the pronuclear phase of development?

A

Fertilisation has just occurred, the nuclear membranes of both sperm and egg dissolve and the haploid genomes combine.

17
Q

The pronuclear phase is highly permissive to foreign DNA insertion. True or false?

A

True.

18
Q

The pronuclear phase is highly permissive to foreign DNA insertion via what mechanism?

A

Homologous recombination.

19
Q

Gene incorporation at the pronuclear phase is common with a high success rate. True or false?

A

False, it is a rare event.

20
Q

Define nuclear-transfer cloning.

A

Whereby the DNA of an oocyte is removed and new genetic material is transferred into the cell.

21
Q

What is an oocyte?

A

An unfertilised egg cell.

22
Q

Does the DNA inserted into an oocyte have to be immature embryonic DNA?

A

No it can be mature, i.e. Dolly the sheep.

23
Q

What kind of efficiency does nuclear-transfer have?

A

Low.

24
Q

What is a transgenic animal?

A

One that has had its DNA altered by DNA recombination.

25
Q

Outline the steps to Transgenesis of an animal.

A
  1. Stem cells isolated
  2. Desired DNA introduced
  3. Cells that have successfully recombines shown via markers
  4. DNA from transformed cell extracted and inserted into empty oocyte
  5. Oocyte transferred into surrogate animal
  6. Animals bred to produce transgenic offspring
26
Q

The offspring of transgenic experiments are often what kind of mutants?

A

Homozygous recessive.

27
Q

Transgenesis is often successful. True or false?

A

False, it has a low success rate.

28
Q

What is Enviropig?

A

A pig that has been GMed to produce phytase in its saliva. This digests phosphorous, causing less run-off from faeces and thus less eutrophication.

29
Q

What is Cre-Lox recombination?

A

Site-specific recombination technology used to carry out deletions/insertions/translocations/inversions at specific DNA sites.

30
Q

How does Cre-Lox work?

A

Cre recombinase, an enzyme, recombines short target sequences called Lox sequences. This means we can isolate genes of interest in animals by flanking them with LoxP sites. These animals are said to be ‘floxed’.

31
Q

Cre recombinase and the original Lox site, LoxP, are derived from…?

A

Bacteriophage 1.

32
Q

Cre recombinase can be expressed in particular tissues in order to provide selective knock-outs. True or false?

A

True.

33
Q

Cows can be GMed to produce human breast milk replacements. True or false?

A

True.

Fundamentals of Molecular Biology (15 decks)

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