1. 1
   A commercial plant nursery wants to produce thousands of genetically identical orchid plants, all with the same desirable flower colour and shape, to sell to garden centres. The nursery uses small pieces of tissue taken from a single parent orchid plant with the desired characteristics.

   (a)

   What is the name given to this technique of producing large numbers of genetically identical plants from small pieces of parent tissue grown on nutrient agar?

   [1 mark]

   • ASelective breeding
   • BMicropropagation (tissue culture)
   • CGenetic modification
   • DNatural selection

   (b)

   What term describes the small piece of tissue taken from the parent plant and used to start this process?

   [1 mark]

   • AExplant
   • BVector
   • CGamete
   • DZygote

   (c)

   Explain why all the orchid plants produced by this technique from the single parent plant are genetically identical to each other and to the parent.

   [2 marks]

   Total for question 1: 4 marks

2. 2
   In 1996, scientists produced Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult body cell. They took the nucleus from a mature udder cell of one sheep and inserted it into an egg cell from a different sheep that had had its own nucleus removed.

   (a)

   What term describes an egg cell that has had its own nucleus removed, ready to receive a new nucleus?

   [1 mark]

   • AZygote
   • BExplant
   • CGamete
   • DEnucleated egg cell

   (b)

   Whose genetic material did Dolly the sheep mainly inherit?

   [1 mark]

   • AThe sheep that donated the egg cell
   • BAn equal mixture of both donor sheep
   • CThe sheep that donated the mature udder cell nucleus
   • DNeither donor sheep

   (c)

   Describe what happened to the egg cell containing the inserted nucleus before it was implanted into a surrogate mother sheep.

   [2 marks]

   Total for question 2: 4 marks

3. 3
   A fruit grower wants to rapidly produce large numbers of disease-free strawberry plants, all identical to a single high-yielding parent plant, for sale to commercial farms across the country.

   (a)

   Describe the stages involved in using micropropagation to produce large numbers of these strawberry plants from the single parent plant.

   [3 marks]

   (b)

   Explain two advantages to the grower of using micropropagation, rather than growing new strawberry plants from seed, to produce the commercial stock.

   [4 marks]

   Total for question 3: 7 marks

4. 4
   Scientists have produced a herd of genetically identical, transgenic goats, each carrying a human gene that causes the goats to produce a valuable human blood-clotting protein in their milk. The herd was established by first inserting the human gene into a single embryo and then cloning that embryo to produce multiple genetically identical goats.

   (a)

   Explain, referring to the techniques of genetic modification and cloning, how scientists could produce this herd of genetically identical, transgenic goats that all produce the human protein in their milk.

   [6 marks]

   (b)

   Discuss the advantages and possible ethical concerns of using cloned, transgenic animals such as these goats to produce human proteins for medical use.

   [6 marks]

   Total for question 4: 12 marks

End of questions