HORT 250 Fall 1999 Quiz 6

Select the most appropriate answer for each question from the selections provided.

 

1. Transgenic plants with increased tolerance to aluminum have been produced by making plants that:

  1. secrete phytosiderophores into the soil
  2. make more metal-binding peptides like phytochelatins
  3. bind aluminum to the cell wall
  4. secrete citrate into the soil
  5. all of the above

 

2. Which of the following compounds has been produced in transgenic plants to improve tolerance to salt stress and water deficit:

  1. citrate
  2. sucrose
  3. mannitol
  4. nicotine
  5. octopine

 

3. Low temperatures induce the expression of many "cold-induced genes". Transgenic plants with improved cold tolerance have been produced by:

  1. expressing the protein that activates expression of these genes all the time in plants
  2. cooling plants using the Peltier effect
  3. expressing a gene for production of antifreeze (ethylene glycol) in plants
  4. increasing evaporative cooling from leaf surfaces
  5. none of the above

 

4. The large ag-biotech companies (e.g. DuPont, Monsanto, Zeneca) are changing the focus of their businesses by:

  1. patenting more of their products
  2. putting more money into research on chemical products
  3. selling off their seed companies
  4. selling off their commodity chemical divisions
  5. reducing the amount of money spent on research and development

 

5. A focus for research activities in the large ag-biotechnology companies is:

  1. understanding the mode of action of banned pesticides such as DDT
  2. deciphering the genetic information (DNA sequences) of crop plants
  3. developing methods for farmers to reproduce hybrid seed
  4. reducing the price of crop seeds
  5. increasing the uniformity of commodity crops

6. A well established regulatory framework for biotechnology products will:

  1. increase the likelihood that new products will be banned
  2. reduce investment in research and development on biotechnology products
  3. encourage biotech companies to invest in countries with unknown regulations
  4. reduce the risk associated with developing new biotech products
  5. have no effect on research and development of these products

 

7. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that foods made from all GM crops are:

  1. labeled as "genetically modified"
  2. tested for toxicity
  3. tested for allergenicity
  4. better for you than normal foods
  5. nutritionally equivalent to similar non-GM foods

 

8. Many of the methods used to transform animal cells (not whole organisms) are:

  1. so inefficient that this technique is rarely used
  2. quite similar to those used to transform plant cells
  3. use bacterial vectors similar to Agrobacterium tumefaciens
  4. use laser tagging to deliver DNA into cells
  5. only work with egg cells

 

9. Which of the following is not involved in producing transgenic mice by microinjection:

  1. removing newly fertilized eggs from a female mouse
  2. injecting DNA directly into one of the pronuclei in the egg
  3. selecting antibiotic resistant eggs that have been successfully transformed
  4. transfer of eggs into a pseudopregnant female mouse
  5. DNA analysis of these mice after birth to identify transgenic mice

 

10. Embryonic stem (ES) cells are also used in a procedure to produce transgenic mice. ES cells are used for transformation because:

  1. they are easy to transform
  2. they are easy to obtain
  3. individual transformed ES cells are implanted and develop into an embryo
  4. all genes are expressed in ES cells
  5. they can develop into any type of cell in a mammal