Cloning and Biotechnology Flashcards
1
Q
Which type of reproduction is a type of cloning?
A
Asexual reproduction
2
Q
What is cloning?
A
The production of offspring genetically identical to each other and to the parent
3
Q
What is vegetative propagation also known as?
A
Natural cloning in plants
4
Q
What happens in vegetative propagation?
A
A structure forms from a part of the parent plant which is genetically identical to the parent
5
Q
What are 3 parts of a plant which vegetative propagation can occur from?
A
Leaves, roots, stem
6
Q
What is vegetative propagation a means of except asexual reproduction?
A
Surviving from one growing season to the next
7
Q
What do perennating organs enable a plant to do?
A
Survive adverse conditions
8
Q
What are 4 examples of plant parts where natural cloning occurs?
A
- Rhizomes 2. Bulbs 3. Runners 4. Tubers
9
Q
What is a rhizome?
A
A specialised underground stem which is often used as a food store
10
Q
What is natural cloning used for in horticulture?
A
Producing new plants
11
Q
What are 2 advantages of using natural cloning in horticulture?
A
- Increases plant numbers cheaply 2. Gives many genetically identical plants
12
Q
What is often applied to cuttings to promote root growth?
A
Rooting powders
13
Q
What can be taken from a plant for use in natural cloning?
A
Cuttings
14
Q
What are 2 advantages of using cuttings instead of seeds to grow new plants?
A
- Much faster 2. Guarantees good quality of plants if the parent plant is of good stock
15
Q
What is the main disadvantage of growing new plants using cuttings?
A
Lack of genetic variation in offspring can have negative impact if a new disease or pest appears
16
Q
What is the most commonly used technique to artificially clone plants?
A
Micropropagation using tissue culture
17
Q
What is micropropagation?
A
The process of making large numbers of genetically identical offspring from a single parent plant using tissue culture techniques
18
Q
In what 5 situations would micropropagation be used to grow new plants?
A
“1. When the parent plant doesn’t readily produce seeds 2. When the plant doesn’t respond well to natural cloning 3. When the plant is very rare 4. When the plant has been genetically modified or selectively bred with difficulty 5. When the plant is required to be pathogen-free “
19
Q
What is the material removed from the plant in micropropagation called?
A
The explant
20
Q
What are 2 plant hormones found in the mixture used in micropropagation?
A
Auxins and cytokinins
21
Q
What is a callus?
A
Mass of identical undifferentiated plant cells
22
Q
What are the 6 steps of artificial plant cloning using tissue culture and micropropagation?
A
- Take small sample from parent plant 2. Sterilise it 3. Place it in sterile culture medium containing plant hormones until a callus forms 4. Divide it up and place in new mixture of hormones and nutrients until plantlets form 5. Pot plantlets until they grow into small plants 6. Plant out small plants to become a crop
23
Q
What are 3 possible sterilising agents for use in artificial plant cloning?
A
- Bleach 2. Ethanol 3. Water sterilisation tablets
24
Q
What are 6 arguments for micropropagation?
A
- Allows rapid production of good plants 2. Produces disease-free plants 3. Can produce viable amounts of plants after genetic modification of plant cells 4. Can increase numbers of rare plants 5. Can grow plants which are otherwise quite infertile and difficult to grow from seed 6. Can produce very large amounts of seedless, infertile plants to meet customer tastes
25
What are 5 arguments against micropropagation?
1. Produces a monoculture, vulnerable to disease 2. Relatively expensive and needs skilled workers 3. Explants and plantlets vulnerable to infection by pathogens during production 4. If source material infected with virus, all new plants will also have virus 5. Sometimes large numbers of new plants are lost
26
What type of animals is natural cloning more common in?
Invertebrates
27
What is an example of how natural cloning can happen in animals?
Starfish can regrow an identical body from a small, detached fragment
28
What is the main form of vertebrate natural cloning?
Monozygotic (identical) twins
29
How are monozygotic twins formed?
The early embryo splits to form two identical embryos
30
Why may monozygotic twins still look different at birth?
Differences in positioning and nutrition in the uterus
31
Which animals can be relatively easily artificially cloned and how?
Some invertebrates, for example you can just chop off a bit of starfish to grow a new one
32
What are the 2 main methods of artificial cloning used in animals?
1. Artificial twinning 2. Somatic cell nuclear transfer
33
What commercial sector uses artificial twinning?
Dairy and livestock farming
34
What is the principle of artificial twinning?
The early embryo is artificially split up to produce 2 or more genetically identical embryos
35
What does artificial twinning enable you to increase?
The number of offspring which come from parents with the best genetic characteristics
36
What are the 5 stages of artificial twinning?
1. Cow with desirable traits treated with hormones to make her superovulate 2. Fertilise the ova either naturally or via artificial insemination, then gently flush the early embryos from the uterus 3. While the cells are still totipotent, split the embryo into several smaller sections 4. Grow the embryos for a few days, then implant them into surrogate mothers 5. Embryos develop and are born normally
37
What can you do instead of fertilising the ova within a cow in artificial twinning?
Remove the mature eggs from the cow and inseminate them in the lab
38
Why, in cow artificial twinning, is one embryo implanted per mother?
Because single pregnancies are less risky than multiple pregnancies
39
What type of animal cloning is used to clone an adult animal?
Somatic cell nuclear transfer
40
Why are animals of different breeds used as the cell donor, egg donor and surrogate mother in Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer?
To make it easier to identify the original animal at each stage
41
What type of cloning was used to produce Dolly the Sheep?
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
42
What are the 4 stages of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer?
1. Nucleus removed from somatic cell of adult 2. Nucleus removed from mature ovum of different female of same species 3. Nucleus from adult animal placed in enucleated ovum and given mild electric shock to stimulate division 4. Embryo transferred to uterus of 3rd animal
43
What DNA of a clone produced by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer does not come from the original animal which had its nucleus taken?
Some mitochondrial DNA comes from the animal which provided the ovum
44
What are 2 ways in which Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is used currently?
1. Pharming 2. Producing GM animals to grow organs for human transplant
45
What are 3 fields in which animal cloning is currently widely used?
1. Agriculture 2. Animal breeding 3. Medicine
46
What are 5 arguments for animal cloning?
1. Artificial twinning allows high-yield farm animals to have more offspring 2. SCNT allows specific good animals to be cloned 3. SCNT has potential to aid preservation of rare or even extinct animals 4. Artificial twinning allows the success of a male animal in passing on genes to be determined 5. SCNT enables GM embryos to be replicated and develop
47
What are 5 arguments against animal cloning?
1. Scientists have been increasingly convinced that SCNT will not bring back extinct animals 2. SCNT is a very inefficient process 3. Many cloned animal embryos fail to develop properly and produce deformed offspring 4. Shortened lifespans for many animals 5. SCNT has been fairly unsuccessful so far in increasing the population of rare animals
48
What is biotechnology?
Applying biological organisms or enzymes to the synthesis, breakdown or transformation of materials in the service of people
49
What are 5 examples of biotechnology?
1. Using yeast to make alcohol 2. Using yeast to make bread 3. Using fungi to make antibiotics 4. Using bacteria to clean up oil spills 5. Enzymes in biological washing powders
50
What are the 2 main types of organisms used in biotechnology?
1. Bacteria 2. Fungi (Yeast)
51
What are 6 reasons we tend to use microorganisms in biotechnology?
1. No welfare issues 2. Enormous range of microorganisms 3. Can be manipulated easily to do reactions which they wouldn't naturally 4. Microorganisms have very short life cycle and grow rapidly, so lots can be grown 5. Nutrient requirements often simple and cheap 6. Due to simple conditions needed, these too are often cheaper than in non-biological processes
52
What are 6 disadvantages of using microorganisms in food production?
1. Conditions needed for their growth are often very similar to those which microorganisms which make food go off 2. They are often GM, so ethical concerns 3. If conditions aren't right then the food might not be produced correctly 4. Often need sterile conditions 5. Protein has little flavour so needs additives 6. If large amounts of single-cell proteins are eaten in high quantity, health problems could arise due to high amounts of uric acid when amino acids are broken down.
53
How does yeast make bread rise?
The yeast aerobically respire and the carbon dioxide thus produced makes the bread rise
54
How does yeast make alcohol?
Yeast anaerobically respire, using the food provided, and in doing so make ethanol
55
What 2 compounds are formed by bacteria in yoghurt production?
Ethanol and lactic acid
56
What effects do bacteria have on the physical properties of yoghurt and how?
Produce extracellular polymers which make yoghurt more smooth and thick
57
What 2 things do bacteria do in cheese making?
1. Feed on lactose in milk, changing the taste and texture 2. Outcompete bacteria which could cause the milk to go off
58
What is single-cell protein?
Edible protein produced by microorganisms
59
What is the best-known example of single-cell protein?
Quorn
60
What fungus is used to make Quorn?
Fusarium venenatum
61
What are 2 reasons people argue that more vegetarian diets would increase global food security?
1. Vegetables are cheaper, and therefore more accessible 2. A vegetarian diet is more efficient as it involves fewer trophic levels
62
What are 6 advantages of using microorganisms in human food production?
1. Grow and produce protein fast 2. High protein content with little fat 3. Can use a wide variety of waste as food 4. Can be genetically modified 5. Can be made to taste like anything 6. Production is constant on not dependant on weather, breeding cycles etc.
63
What are 2 examples of medicines produced via biotechnology?
Insulin and penicillin
64
What type of microorganism is used to produce penicillin?
A mould
65
How was insulin extracted before biotechnology?
Usually from the crushed up pancreases of pigs or cattle slaughtered for meat
66
What were 4 problems with extracting insulin from the crushed pancreases of dead animals?
1. Some were allergic to animal insulin as was often impure 2. Some faith groups forbid pig or cow products 3. Action of animal insulin peaks a few hours after injection 4. Supply erratic and depended on demand for meat (as animal pancreases usually came from stuff slaughtered for meat)
67
How was the problem of people being allergic to animal insulin eventually alleviated (whilst still using animal insulin)?
Very pure forms were developed which meant that less people reacted badly
68
What are the 2 approaches to bioremediation?
Using natural and using GM organisms
69
What happens in bioremediation?
Microorganisms are used to break down pollutants and contaminants in the soil and water
70
What is an example of GM bacteria being used for bioremediation?
Bacteria which were genetically modified to break down mercury
71
What are 2 examples of non-GM bacteria being used for bioremediation?
1. Usage in cleaning up oil spills 2. Usage in cleaning up sewage and killing the pathogens contained within it
72
Where does bioremediation take place?
Often at the site of the contamination, but sometimes stuff is removed to be decontaminated
73
What are 2 reasons health and safety procedures must always be followed when culturing microorganisms?
1. Even if they are nominally harmless, mutations are always a possibility and could lead to a microorganism becoming pathogenic 2. There may be contamination from pathogenic microorganisms
74
What is the food which is given to cultured microorganisms called?
Nutrient medium
75
What are the 2 forms a culture's nutrient medium can be in?
1. Liquid (broth) 2. Solid (agar)
76
What is important about the nutrient medium when culturing microorganisms?
That it be kept sterile
77
What is inoculating?
Adding bacteria to a nutrient medium
78
Why is the flask stoppered with cotton wool when inoculating broth?
To prevent contamination from the air
79
What are the 5 steps for inoculating agar?
1. Sterilise inoculating loop by heating until red hot, then make sure it doesn't touch anything while cooling 2. Dip loop in bacterial suspension 3. Remove lid of agar dish and streak the loop across the surface, taking care it doesn't dig in 4. Replace lid and loosely hold down with tape 5. Incubate at suitable temperature
