Cultivation of Bt cotton has been much in the news. The prefix Bt means

• "Barium-treated" cotton seeds

• "Bigger thread" variety of cotton with better tensile strength

• produced by "biotechnology" using restriction enzymes and ligases 

• carrying an endotoxin gene from Bacillus thuringienesis.

In India, we find mangoes with different flavours, colours, fibre content, sugar content and even shelf-life. The large variation is on account of

• species diversity

• induced mutations

• genetic diversity 

• hybridisation

Pests which only feed and oviposit on crop are called

• major pests

• minor pests

• accidental pests

• occasional pests

Assertion: Cattle breeds can be improved by superovulation and embryo transplantation.

Reason: Superovulation in high milk-yielding cows is induced by hormonal injection.

• If both Assertion and Reason are true and Reason is the correct explanation of Assertion

• If both Assertion and Reason are true but Reason is not the correct explanation of Assertion

• If Assertion is true but Reason is false

• If both Assertion and Reason are false.

Somaclonal variation can be obtained by

• application of colchicine

• irradiation with gamma rays

• tissue culture

• hybridisation.

An example of gene therapy is

• production of injectable hepatitis B vaccine

• production of vaccines in food crops like potatoes which can be eaten 

• introduction of gene for adenosine deaminase in persons suffering from Severe Combined Immuno-deficiency (SCID)

• production of test tube babies by artificial insemination and implantation of fertilized eggs

Assertion : Agrobacterium tumefaciens is popular in genetic engineering because this bacterium is associated with the roots of all cereal and pulse crops.

Reason : A gene incorporated in the bacterial chromosomal genome gets automatically transferred to the crop with which the bacterium is associated.

• If both Assertion and Reason are true and the Reason is the correct explanation of the Assertion

• If both Assertion and Reason are true but the Reason is not the correct explanation of the assertion

• If Assertion is true but Reason is false.

• If both Assertion and Reason are false.

Long fibres of cotton seed are known as

• coir

• fuzz

• lint

• flax

Hirudin is

• a protein produced by Hordeum vulgare, which is rich in lysine

• a toxic molecule isolated from Gossypium hirsutum, which reduces human fertility

• a protein produced from transgenic Brassica napus, which prevents blood clotting

• an antibiotic produced by a genetically engineered bacterium, Escherichia coli.

Somaclonal variation is seen in

• tissue culture grown plants

• apomiets

• polyploids

• vegetatively propagated plants.