Competent hosts and methods of gene transfer — practice questions
5 questions in the bank on this idea. Below are 5 of them, exactly as they appear in a test.
Why are bacterial cells treated to become competent before transformation?
- A. To destroy their chromosomes
- B. To improve uptake of recombinant DNA
- C. To stop all normal membrane transport and permanently arrest cellular activity
- D. To make them produce spores
What is the purpose of the heat-shock step after treating bacterial cells with calcium ions?
- A. To remove every plasmid molecule from the treated bacterial population
- B. To denature all bacterial proteins
- C. To promote recombinant DNA uptake
- D. To stop cell division permanently
A plant cell is difficult to transform using ordinary chemical methods. Which method can directly shoot DNA-coated particles into the cell?
- A. Chromatography
- B. Dialysis
- C. Centrifugation
- D. Biolistics
A pathogen is modified so that its disease-causing genes are removed but its natural DNA-delivery ability is retained. What is its role?
- A. A restriction enzyme
- B. A DNA-delivery vector
- C. A source of ATP only
- D. A selectable nutrient supplied to identify transformed cells in culture
Which gene-transfer method introduces DNA directly into the nucleus of an animal cell using a fine needle?
- A. Microinjection
- B. Heat shock
- C. Gel electrophoresis
- D. Fermentation
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