15 questionswith explanationsfor RAS, Patwari, VDO and other Rajasthan exams
In recombinant DNA technology, restriction endonucleases are popularly called:
Answer: (2) Molecular scissors
Explanation
Restriction enzymes cut DNA at specific sequences and are called molecular scissors; DNA ligase, which joins fragments, is called molecular glue.
Bt cotton, approved in India in 2002 as the country's first commercially cultivated GM crop, carries insecticidal (cry) genes taken from:
Answer: (3) Bacillus thuringiensis
Explanation
Bt cotton carries cry genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, whose proteins kill bollworms.
Which of the following correctly describes the status of the GM mustard hybrid DMH-11?
Answer: (2) GEAC cleared its environmental release in 2022; the Supreme Court gave a split verdict on it in 2024
Explanation
DMH-11, developed at Delhi University's Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, got GEAC approval for environmental release in October 2022; in July 2024 a two-judge Supreme Court bench gave a split verdict.
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), which appraises GM organisms for environmental release, functions under which ministry?
Answer: (4) Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Explanation
GEAC is the apex regulatory body for GM organisms under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
In February 2010, the Government of India imposed an indefinite moratorium on the commercial release of which GM crop?
Answer: (1) Bt brinjal
Explanation
Despite GEAC's 2009 recommendation, the Environment Ministry placed a moratorium on Bt brinjal in February 2010, which continues.
Dolly (born 1996), the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell, was a:
Answer: (1) Sheep
Explanation
Dolly the sheep was cloned at the Roslin Institute, Scotland, by somatic cell nuclear transfer.
'Noori', the world's first cloned Pashmina goat (2012), was produced by scientists of:
Answer: (2) SKUAST-Kashmir
Explanation
Noori was cloned in March 2012 by the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-Kashmir).
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), for which Shinya Yamanaka shared the 2012 Nobel Prize, are obtained by:
Answer: (2) Reprogramming adult body cells
Explanation
iPSCs are made by reprogramming specialised adult cells (e.g. skin cells) into an embryonic-like pluripotent state.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing the CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing method was awarded to:
Answer: (1) Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna
Explanation
Charpentier and Doudna received the 2020 Chemistry Nobel for CRISPR-Cas9, which uses the Cas9 enzyme to cut DNA at a guided site.
In May 2025, India released its first two genome-edited rice varieties, DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1. How were they developed?
Answer: (4) CRISPR-Cas editing without foreign DNA
Explanation
ICAR developed both varieties with CRISPR-Cas genome editing, making precise changes in the plant's own genes without inserting foreign DNA.
Match List-I (COVID-19 vaccine) with List-II (vaccine platform): List-I: A. ZyCoV-D B. Covaxin C. Covishield D. GEMCOVAC-19 List-II: 1. DNA vaccine 2. Inactivated whole virus 3. Viral vector 4. mRNA Select the correct answer:
Answer: (1) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
Explanation
ZyCoV-D (2021) was the world's first DNA vaccine for humans, Covaxin uses inactivated virus, Covishield an adenovirus vector, and GEMCOVAC-19 (2022) was India's first mRNA vaccine.
One nanometre is equal to:
Answer: (1) 10⁻⁹ metre
Explanation
1 nm = 10⁻⁹ m; nanotechnology deals with materials roughly 1-100 nm in size.
Graphene, whose isolation earned Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics, is:
Answer: (3) A one-atom-thick layer of carbon
Explanation
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms in a hexagonal lattice; a C60 sphere is a fullerene (buckyball).
Silver nanoparticles are widely used in wound dressings, water filters and fabric coatings mainly because of their:
Answer: (2) Antimicrobial action
Explanation
Silver nanoparticles release silver ions that kill bacteria and other microbes, so they are used as antimicrobial agents.
DNA fingerprinting, pioneered in India by Lalji Singh at CCMB Hyderabad, is mainly based on differences between individuals in:
Answer: (2) Repetitive DNA sequences (VNTRs)
Explanation
DNA fingerprinting (Alec Jeffreys, 1984) compares variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs), which differ from person to person.