Q: Consider the following techniques/phenomena:
a) Budding and grafting in fruit plants
b) Cytoplasmic male sterility
c) Gene silencing
Which of the above is/are used to create transgenic
crops?
The correct answer is 2 and 3 only.
Transgenic Crops
- It is the crops that have their genomes modified through genetic engineering techniques either by the addition of a foreign gene or removal of a certain detrimental gene. the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plat which does not naturally occur.
- Budding and Grafting are horticultural techniques, Grafting is the act of placing a portion of one plant (bud or scion) into or on a stem, root, or branch of another (stock) in such a way that a union will be formed and the partners will continue to grow.
- In the budding process, a bud is taken from one plant and grown on another. it does not lead to any genetic modification. Hence, Statement 1 is not correct.
Cytoplasmic male sterility
- It is total or partial male sterility in plants as the result of specific nuclear and mitochondrial interactions.
- Male sterility is the failure of plants to produce pollen or male gametes.
- The cytoplasmic male sterility systems are widely utilized in crop plants for hybrid breeding due to the convenience of controlling sterility. Hence, Statement 2 is correct.
Gene Silencing
- By using RNA interference technology, transcriptional gene silencing, virus-induced gene silencing, has been used in horticultural techniques. Hence, Statement 3 is correct.
- The double-strand RNAs present inside the cell are responsible for producing small interfering RNAs, short hairpin RNAs, and micro RNAs.
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