Genetic engineering

Human growth hormone (hGH) is made by the pituitary gland.

Name one other hormone made by the pituitary gland.

hGH is a protein.

A child with a deficiency of hGH can be given injections of hGH.

What would happen to the hGH if it was given as a tablet that was swallowed?

Scientists can use genetic engineering to make hGH.

Figure 4 shows a summary of the process.

Describe how scientists can transfer the gene for hGH from human cells to bacterial cells.

Use information from Figure 4.

Growth hormone (GH) can be extracted from the urine of farm animals.

It is better to use hGH made by genetic engineering than to use GH from the urine of farm animals.

Suggest two reasons why.

Do not refer to ethical reasons or religious beliefs in your answer

Genetic engineering can be used for making many useful products.

Figure 3 shows how a vaccine against a virus can be made by genetic engineering.

Use information from Figure 3 to answer questions 03.1 and 03.2.

Which part of the virus is put into the yeast cell?

Which part of the virus is made by the yeast cell?

A long time ago, vaccines were made in a different way.

The virus was heated to stop it reproducing.

The vaccine contained whole viruses.

Why might the vaccine containing heat-treated viruses be dangerous?

Tick (✓) one box.

Genetic engineering can also be used in agriculture.

Weeds are a problem for farmers because the weeds compete with crop plants.

Give three factors that the weeds and crop plants compete for.

Glyphosate is a weed killer used in agriculture.

Genetically modified (GM) maize is a food crop that is resistant to glyphosate weed killer.

Farmers can spray glyphosate on a field to kill the weeds where the GM maize is growing.

Suggest one advantage of using glyphosate on fields where GM maize is growing.

Suggest one problem of using glyphosate on fields where GM maize is growing.

Do not refer to cost in your answer.

Glyphosate is a herbicide used in agriculture.

Soya bean plants have been genetically modified (GM) to be resistant to glyphosate.

A farmer can increase the yield of soya beans by:

• growing GM soya bean plants

• spraying glyphosate on the field.

Explain how the use of GM soya bean plants and glyphosate can increase the yield of soya beans.

Suggest two reasons why some people are concerned about the use of GM soya bean plants.

Do not refer to ethical concerns or religion in your answer.

Figure 2 shows the human population from 1600 to 2010.

In 1900 the human population was 1.6 billion.

Calculate how many times greater the human population was in the year 2000 compared with the year 1900.

In 1950 the human population was 2.5 billion. Calculate the mean annual increase in the human population between 1900 and 1950.

Predict the human population in 2050 if the current rate of population increase continues. You should draw an extrapolation line on Figure 2.

The increasing human population has caused a decline in fish stocks. Describe how fishing quotas can help to return fish stocks to a sustainable level.

Farming techniques have changed in recent years. Describe:

• why more land is being used for farming

• how increased farming has decreased biodiversity.

Genetic modification of crop plants can help meet the demands of the increasing human population. Golden rice is a genetically modified (GM) crop. What is the advantage of golden rice compared with non-GM rice? Tick (✓) one box.

Suggest one reason why some people are concerned about the use of golden rice.

Ragwort is a weed that grows on farmland.

Ragwort is poisonous to horses.

Plan an investigation to estimate the size of a population of ragwort growing in a rectangular field on a farm.

The herbicide glyphosate will kill ragwort and other weeds.

Scientists use bacteria for the genetic engineering of crop plants to make the crops resistant to glyphosate.

Figure 8 shows the growth of a culture of the bacteria in a solution of nutrients at 25 C

Why did the rate of reproduction increase between 2 hours and 7 hours?

After 12 hours, the rate of reproduction decreased.

Suggest three ways the scientists could maintain a high rate of reproduction in the bacterial culture.

The rate of reproduction of the bacteria is fastest at 7 hours.

How many times faster is the rate of reproduction at 7 hours than the rate at 12 hours?

Scientists transferred a gene for resistance to the herbicide glyphosate into the bacteria.

The genetically-modified (GM) bacteria can then transfer the glyphosate-resistance gene to a crop plant.

Explain the advantage of making crop plants resistant to glyphosate.