Biotechnology and its Applications MCQs for NEET — Zoology Questions with Answers

Biofortification is the process of increasing the nutritional value of crops by enhancing the concentration of essential nutrients such as proteins and minerals through breeding practices. This approach aims to improve the dietary intake of these nutrients in populations that rely heavily on staple crops.

An explant is a piece of plant tissue or organ that is used in tissue culture to initiate the growth of a callus. The callus is a mass of undifferentiated cells that forms when the explant is placed in a suitable culture medium. This technique is commonly used in plant propagation and genetic engineering.

Page 174, XII NCERT

Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl glycine) is systemic broad spectrum herbicide used to kill weeds especially broad leaves and grasses. It is used to engineer new crop for having herbicides tolerance (resistant).

Somatic embryogenesis ia a technique of micropropagation. Development of embryo like structure from explant by the method of tissue culture is called somatic embryogenesis.

(a) RAPD stand for Random amplified polymorphic DNA. It is a type of PCR reaction, but the segments of DNA that are amplified are random. Often, PCR is used to amplify a known DNA sequence.

(c) Both apical and axillary meristems are free of virus for the healthy plant cultivation because of strong interferon activity in this region. These tissues form a protective impermeable covering around themselves, which is non-penetrable by any pathogen Hence, these tissue are used in the production of diseased free plants by tissue culture.

Generally, it is believed that actively growing regions of plants (i.e., shoot apex and root apex) do not have viruses. Due to this big advantage, these regions are used in the production of virus free plants through meristem culture technique. In meristem culture explants are taken from shoot apex or shoot apical meristem. These explants are cultured on a medium containing more cytokinin than auxin hormone. Thus, meristem culture involves the development of an already existing shoot apical meristem and subsequently, the regeneration of adventitious root from the developed shoots.

(c) Golden rice is a variety of Oryza sativa(rice) produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize Beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin-A in the edible part of rice (i.e., endosperm). The research that led to golden rice was conducted with the goal of helping children who suffer from vitamin-A deficiency. Because many children in countries where there is a dietary deficiency in vitamin-A rely on rice as a staple food, the genetic modification of rice to produce the vitamin-A precursor beta-carotene is seen as a simple and less expensive alternative to vitamin supplements.

'Jaya' and 'Ratna' are better-yielding semi-dwarf varieties of rice developed in India.