MCQ Bank
What is the major source of insect-resistance genes used in plant biotechnology?
- A) The virus Tobacco mosaic virus
- B) The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis
- C) The fungus Aspergillus niger
- D) The algae Chlamydomonas
What is the primary purpose of introducing DNA into animal cells in culture?
- A) To eliminate all genetic diseases in animals
- B) To study gene function and regulation or produce recombinant proteins
- C) To increase the physical size of the animal
- D) To create new pets
Which of the following is listed as a risk factor of GM foods?
- A) Improvement in soil fertility
- B) Creation of superbugs and superweeds
- C) Reduction in crop yield
- D) Increased nutritional value
What is one of the most important goals of plant biotechnology as mentioned in the slides?
- A) To increase food yields
- B) To make plants grow without water
- C) To reduce the nutritional value of crops
- D) To eliminate all plant diseases permanently
Drought resistance in plants is an example of protection against which type of stress?
- A) Viral stress
- B) Nutritional stress
- C) Biotic stress
- D) Abiotic stress
What happens to the cell membrane during electroporation?
- A) It forms a thick wall around the cell
- B) It is completely destroyed
- C) Transient, nanometer-sized pores are generated
- D) It becomes permanently permeable
Which was the first human therapeutic protein to be expressed in genetically modified plants?
- A) Interferon
- B) Human serum albumin
- C) Insulin
- D) Growth hormone
Why is transfection with polyplexes considered more efficient than some other chemical methods?
- A) Because they do not require any cells
- B) Because they work only in plant cells
- C) Because they have a uniform particle size
- D) Because they are cheaper to produce
Which trait is the most widespread in commercial transgenic plants?
- A) Drought tolerance
- B) Herbicide resistance
- C) Insect resistance
- D) Salt tolerance
Protoplast transformation is highly efficient for DNA uptake but can be limiting for generating whole transgenic plants. What is a major downstream challenge after successfully transforming a protoplast?
- A) It is difficult to regenerate an entire fertile plant from a single protoplast.
- B) The protoplasts are immediately resistant to antibiotics.
- C) Protoplasts cannot express foreign genes.
- D) The transformation is only transient.
A biotechnology company needs a homogeneous population of single plant cells for high-throughput screening of a new herbicide. They start with a solid callus culture. What should be their next critical step to achieve this?
- A) Induce somatic embryogenesis in the callus.
- B) Subject the callus to cryopreservation.
- C) Treat the callus with a cell wall-digesting enzyme.
- D) Transfer the callus to a liquid medium and agitate it on a shaker.
What confers the ability to induce tumors in Agrobacterium tumefaciens?
- A) Ti-plasmid
- B) Chromosomal DNA
- C) Mitochondrial DNA
- D) Ribosomal RNA
T-DNA genes in Agrobacterium tumefaciens are involved in:
- A) Photosynthesis
- B) Nitrogen fixation
- C) Synthesis of phytohormones and opines
- D) Cell wall degradation
What is the approximate velocity required for metal particles to penetrate plant cell walls in particle bombardment?
- A) 50 m/s
- B) 500 m/s
- C) 100 m/s
- D) 250 m/s
In an experiment, a researcher creates a nutrient medium containing only a high concentration of auxins to initiate callus from leaf explants. The callus forms but quickly begins to differentiate into roots. What is the most likely explanation?
- A) The explant was contaminated.
- B) The sugar concentration was too low.
- C) The balance of hormones was incorrect; cytokinins were needed to suppress differentiation.
- D) The temperature was too high.
When was the expression of foreign genes in plants first successfully achieved?
- A) Mid-1990s
- B) Early 2000s
- C) Early 1980s
- D) Late 1970s
What is essential in the nutrient medium to maintain plant cells in an undifferentiated state for callus formation?
- A) Correct balance of auxins, cytokinins, and gibberellins
- B) High sugar concentration
- C) Only auxins
- D) Only cytokinins
How is a cell suspension culture obtained?
- A) By transferring callus into liquid medium with agitation
- B) By grinding plant leaves
- C) By freezing plant cells
- D) By exposing cells to UV light
A company wants to produce a very high yield of a recombinant vaccine protein in tobacco leaves. They are deciding between nuclear and chloroplast transformation. Which factor, specific to chloroplast transformation, provides the strongest argument for its use in this scenario?
- A) Chloroplast genes are not subject to gene silencing.
- B) Chloroplast transformation avoids the use of antibiotic resistance marker genes.
- C) Chloroplasts are larger and easier to isolate.
- D) The high copy number of chloroplasts per cell can lead to vastly higher protein accumulation.
A researcher in 1995 wanted to transform a novel ornamental plant species that had never been genetically modified before. Based on the historical development of plant transformation, what was the most significant challenge they likely faced?
- A) Obtaining permission for field trials
- B) Isolating the plant's DNA
- C) Developing a routine transformation protocol for that specific species
- D) Sequencing the plant's genome