The image below shows a poppy plant.

The poppy plant produces a powerful painkiller.

Scientists have genetically modified yeast cells to produce painkillers that are normally harvested from poppies.

Discuss the benefits and risks of producing painkillers from genetically modified yeast cells instead of extracting them from poppies.

The genetically modified yeast are transgenic organisms.

What is a transgenic organism?

Give two other examples of the use of transgenic organisms.

Give the role of two enzymes in the production of GM organisms.

Penicillin is a substance used to treat bacterial infections.

There has been a global shortage of penicillin in recent years.

Penicillin kills bacteria by destroying the bacterial cell wall.

What is the name given to a substance that stops bacterial growth?

Some bacteria cause disease but many can be used in different industries.

Explain why bacteria are useful in the biotechnology industry.

Scientists have genetically engineered bacteria to produce large amounts of penicillin.

Describe how scientists would produce a genetically modified bacterium that produces penicillin.

The pancreases of patients with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin.

Patients with type 1 diabetes need to inject synthetic insulin to maintain constant blood sugar levels.

Synthetic insulin is made in bacteria or yeast that have been genetically modified.

Explain how the human insulin gene can be inserted into a bacterial plasmid.

Explain what is meant by the term genetically modified.

An industrial fermenter is used to grow the GM bacteria.

The fermenter is sterilised with steam before the GM bacteria are added. 

Explain why.

The photograph below shows wild rice and golden rice.

Golden rice is a genetically modified variety of rice.

Golden rice is yellow because it contains beta-carotene.

When humans eat golden rice, they convert the beta-carotene to vitamin A.

Vitamin A prevents blindness and other diseases in children.

Suggest one reason why some people are concerned about the use of golden rice.

Give two other examples in which crop plants have been changed by inserting genes.

State one advantage for each example.

Do not mention increasing nutritional value in your answer.

Scientists have been studying the possibility of reducing the populations of pests by using genetic engineering.

They want to insert a gene into male rodents that destroys any sperm containing an X chromosome.

Explain how this method could rapidly reduce the rodent population.

Explain what is meant by the term 'genetically modified'.

Give another example of a current or potential use of a transgenic animal.

Insecticides are substances that kill insects.

Some crops have been modified with a bacterial gene and can produce proteins that act as insecticides.

What method is used to insert the gene from the bacteria into the banana plant?

Scientists are developing a new banana plant that is insect resistant.

The police of two different countries have been called to guard the new plants.

• In a high-income country, protesters want to destroy the plants.
• In a developing country, people have tried to steal the plants to grow themselves.

Suggest why:

• the protesters in the high-income country want to destroy the crops
• why the response in the developing country is so different

Plants can be modified by:

• inserting extra copies of a plant’s gene into another plant
• inserting a bacterial gene into a plant

People are more likely to support genetic modification using extra copies of the plant gene.

Suggest why.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of growing insect-resistant banana plants that produce a toxin that kills insects.

A farmer can improve his crop yield by:

• growing genetically modified plants that produce a natural insecticide
• growing non-genetically modified plants and use a chemical insecticide

The farmer decides to grow the genetically modified plants rather than using pesticides.

Discuss the decision made by the farmer.

Herbicides are substances that kill plants.

Some crops have been genetically modified to be herbicide resistant.

Why do farmers want to grow crops that are herbicide resistant?

Name the technique of inserting genes from one organism into another.

The herbicide resistance gene is cut out of a chromosome of a herbicide resistant plant.

How is the gene cut out of the chromosome?

Some people are opposed to herbicide resistant crops produced by this method.

Suggest one reason why.

Genetically modified (GM) crops have been created to try and feed an increasing human population.

Describe how GM crops are produced and give one advantage and one disadvantage of growing GM crops.