15.3 Applications of Genetic Engineering

Understand Key Concepts

18. Which of the following characteristics is often genetically engineered into crop plants?

    1. improved flavor

    2. resistance to herbicides

    3. shorter ripening times

    4. thicker stems

19. A substance that has been genetically engineered into transgenic rice has the potential to treat

    1. cancer.

    2. high blood pressure.

    3. vitamin A deficiency.

    4. malaria.

20. Physicians can screen for a genetic disorder using

    1. a DNA microarray.

    2. PCR.

    3. restriction enzyme analysis.

    4. DNA sequencing.

21. Describe how a DNA microarray might be used to distinguish normal cells from cancer cells.

22. Describe two important uses for DNA fingerprinting.

Think Critically

23. Infer If a human patient's bone marrow was removed, altered genetically, and reimplanted, would the change be passed on to the patient's children? Explain your answer.



solve the CHAPTER MYSTERY



A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY

The first suspect was lucky: Twenty years earlier, it would have been an open-and-shut case. But by 1998, DNA fingerprinting was widely available. After the police took the suspect into custody, forensic scientists tested the DNA in the bloodstains on his shirt. Within a few hours, they knew they had the wrong suspect. Before long, the police caught the real attacker, who was subsequently tried and convicted of the crime.

1. Infer How did the investigators determine that the person they took into custody was not guilty of this crime?

2. Apply Concepts Did the DNA evidence from the bloodstains come from the red blood cells, the white blood cells, or both? Explain your answer.

3. Predict What if the initial suspect was related to the victim? Would that have changed the result? Why or why not?

4. Connect to the What might have happened if this crime were committed before DNA fingerprinting was discovered? Describe the series of events that might have taken place after police took in the first suspect.