Question

The transgenic plant ‘Flavr Savr” tomato carries an artificial gene for
A. Delayed ripening process
B. Longer shelf life
C. Enhanced flavour
D. All of these

Answer 1

Artificial genes are the duplicate genes that are synthesized in the laboratory by combining the nucleotides in sequence characteristic of a copied gene.

Complete Answer:
Transgenic plants: Transgenic plants are the plants in which the DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid) is manipulated with the help of recombinant DNA technology. This manipulation is done to create desirable traits in a particular plant like disease resistance, herbicide and pesticide resistance, better nutritional value, better shelf life, etc.

Flavr Savr tomato:
- Flavr Savr tomato is the genetically modified tomato. It was the first genetically engineered food that is generated for human consumption.
- It was produced by the Californian Company named as Calgene and they submitted this to the U.S. Food and Drug administration in 1992.
- Flavr Savr tomato was developed through the use of Antisense RNA.
- This has been done to regulate the expression of an enzyme called polygalacturonase (PG) in ripening tomatoes.
- This enzyme is responsible for the softening of fruit due to an deactivated gene.
- So, in order to suppress the Polygalacturonase scientists introduced an artificial gene that is the antisense copy which was specially designed to reduce the formation of polygalacturonase.

Characteristics of transgenic Flavr Savr tomato:
- Delayed ripening of fruit was achieved by inserting the copy of antisense gene which is an artificial gene in order to reduce the formation of polygalacturonase.
- Transgenic Flavr Savr tomatoes have longer shelf life.
- An enhanced flavor also achieved through traditional breeding of Flavr Savr.

So, the option D is the correct answer for this question.

Note: As we know that the population of World is increasing day by day, so in order to feed a growing population we need a large production of food. So, with the help of biotechnology scientists produce some transgenic plants that give us more yield as well as a good variety of food.