

InterviewSolution
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Explain how DNA technology has been used to create the following: (i) Tomatoes with delayed ripening (ii) Bt crops (iii) Virus free crops (iv) Biodegradable plastic. |
Answer» (i) Flaw Save tomato is a plant having delayed fruit ripening. This was genetically modified by introducing the genes from a fish to reduce the freezer damage of the tomatoes. This gives a long life to tomatoes. (ii) Bt crops : Bt cotton and Bt brinjal, these are insect-resistant plants which are produced by introducing a cry gene of Bacillus thuringiensis that encode Cry protein. (iii) Virus free crops : Transgenic papaya, peeper, tobacco and tomatoes; these are virus free plants. By using tissue culture method we can produce disease-resistant plants. (iv) Biodegradable plastic : The biodegradable plastic is made from lactic acid which is produced at the time of bacterial fermentation of plant materials like discarded stalks of corn. In the process, molecules of lactic acid are chemically grouped to form the biodegradable plastic. In fact, the biodegradable plastic is a material which has most of the properties of plastic except the property of being non-biodegradable. The biodegradable plastic polyhydroxyalkanates eg., polyhydroxylbutyrate (PHB) are obtained commercially by fermentation with bacterium Alcaligenes eutrophus. The genetically engineered Arabidopsis plants produced polyhydroxylbutyrate (PHB) globules in their chloroplasts without effecting plant growth and development. The large scale of polyhydroxylbutyrate (PHB) can be extracted from leaves as well as from transgenic plants. |
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