NIOS Biology Intext Solutions Chapter 30
INTEXT QUESTIONS 30.1
1. Name three different kinds of microorganisms used in the manufacture of industrial products.
Ans: Fungi, yeast, bacteria
2. Name three products obtained in industries by using microorganisms.
Ans: Alcohol/antibiotics/curd/cheese/vitamins/vaccines/biogas (any three)
3. Name two alcohols produced through fermentation by yeast.
Ans: Ethanol/Butanol/Glycerol (any two)
4. Name the two methods of inoculation of yeast in the medium.
Ans: Support growth system and suspended growth system
5. Match the items given in columns A with those given in column B.
| Column A | Column B |
| 1. Bioreactor | (a) Butanol |
| 2. Steaming under pressure | (b) Fermentation tank |
| 3. Alcohol | (c) Autoclave |
Ans: 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
INTEXT QUESTIONS 30.2
1. Name the bacterium responsible for the curdling of milk.
Ans: Lactobacillus
2. Who discovered antibiotics?
Ans: Alexander Fleming
3. What do you mean by second-generation vaccines?
Ans: Vaccines produced by the use of recombinant DNA technology
4. Which was the first vitamin to be produced by fermentation?
Ans: Vitamin C
5. Which bacteria cause the production of biogas?
Ans: Methanogenic bacteria
INTEXT QUESTIONS 30.3
1. Define genetic engineering.
Ans: Construction and use of novel DNA molecules obtained by recombinant DNA technology.
2. What is a clone?
Ans: A Clone is a collection of genetically identical cells obtained by asexual division of a cell.
3. What do you mean by the term recombinant DNA?
Ans: When a fragment of foreign DNA is inserted into the DNA of a phage or plasmid, the DNA of the latter is called r-DNA.
4. Where are plasmids found?
Ans: In bacteria
5. Why are restriction enzymes called “molecular scissors”?
Ans: Because they can cut specific sequences of DNA.
6. Name the enzyme that joins DNA fragments.
Ans: Ligase
7. What is a clonal vector?
Ans: A phage or plasmid that carries foreign DNA and divides along with the bacterium whose part it is.
8. What do you mean by transgenic organism?
Ans: Also called genetically modified organisms (GM organisms), transgenic organisms
contain in their genetic makeup foreign genes, that is, genes from another species or another kind of organism. Transgenics are raised through recombinant DNA technology.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 30.4
1. Name any two proteins and two enzymes obtained by recombinant DNA technology.
Ans: (i) Insulin, Growth hormone (ii) Proteases, Amylases
2. How is recombinant DNA technology useful for pharmaceutical companies?
Ans: Antibiotics, vaccines, and proteins of clinical value can be manufactured abundantly.
3. Name any two diseases for which bioengineered vaccines have already been developed.
Ans: Rabies and hepatitis B
INTEXT QUESTIONS 30.5
1. Define the term transgenic.
Ans: An organism containing foreign DNA in its genome
2. Name the gall-producing bacterium and the plasmid which can be conveniently used to produce transgenics.
Ans: Agrobacterium tumefaciens and T1 plasmid.
3. What is bioremediation?
Ans: Bioremediation is the removal of pollutants in the environment by the use of genetically engineered bacteria.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 30.6
1. What causes the alteration of the normal functioning of a gene?
Ans: Mutation
2. Name two single-gene disorders in human beings.
Ans: Haemophilia, Sickle cell anaemia, SCID (Any two)
3. State which cells have a low count in Severe Combined Immuno Deficiency (SCID).
Ans: B-cells and T-cells
4. Define gene therapy.
Ans: Replacement and alteration of defective genes is called gene therapy.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 30.7
1. State the two approaches to human gene therapy.
Ans: Somatic and germ-line cells
2. Name the three categories of somatic cell gene therapy.
Ans: In-vivo gene therapy, Ex-vivo gene therapy, and Anti-sense gene therapy
3. Name any two genetic diseases that can be treated by somatic gene therapy.
Ans: Thalassamia, certain types of cancer
4. What is the direct delivery of the corrected gene into the tissue of the patient by the use of Adenovirus called?
Ans: In-vivo gene therapy
Additional Study Materials
- Chapter 25 Principles of Ecology
- Chapter 26 Conservation and Use of Natural Resources
- Chapter 27 Pollution
- Chapter 28 Nutrition and Health
- Chapter 29 Some Common Human Diseases




