Question 1
What is genetic engineering?
- Choosing parents with desired characteristics to breed together.
- Growing many identical plants from small pieces of tissue.
- Modifying the genome of an organism to introduce desirable characteristics.
- Using living organisms to control pests.
Show mark scheme for question 1
Answer: C (1)
Question 2
Bacteria can be genetically engineered to make human insulin. Describe what is done to the bacteria and the result.
Show mark scheme for question 2
- the human gene for insulin is inserted into the genome / DNA of the bacteria (1)
- the bacteria can make human insulin (1)
Question 3
Higher tier (what this means)
Higher tier: only on the Higher tier papers. Foundation students can skip it. What the labels meanDescribe the roles of restriction enzymes and ligase in genetic engineering.
Show mark scheme for question 3
- restriction enzyme cuts DNA at a specific base sequence (1)
- leaving sticky ends (1)
- ligase joins the DNA / gene into the vector (1)
Question 4
Higher tier (what this means)
Higher tier: only on the Higher tier papers. Foundation students can skip it. What the labels meanDescribe the main stages in inserting a gene into a bacterial plasmid vector.
Show mark scheme for question 4
- cut the gene out using a restriction enzyme (1)
- cut the plasmid with the same restriction enzyme, so sticky ends match (1)
- mix the gene and plasmid, and use ligase to join them (1)
- insert the plasmid (vector) into the bacterium (1)