and All Correct Answers 2026 Updated.
What is genetic engineering? - Answer using in vitro techniques to alter genetic material in the
lab
What is recombinant DNA technology? - Answer the artificial recombination of DNA from two
organisms
What are some basic techniques of genetic engineering? - Answer DNA amplification
electrophoesis
nucleic acid hybridization
molecular cloning
expressing foreign genes
targeted mutagenesis
What is heterologous expression? - Answer expressing a gene in a different host
What is the polymerase chain reaction? - Answer rapid amplification in the number of copies
of specific DNA sequences for further analysis
What is a thermocycler? - Answer an automated PCR machine
What is quantitative PCR? - Answer quantifies initial amount of DNA
What are some applications of PCR? - Answer -obtain specific fragments of DNA for cloning
-comparative (phylogenic) studies to amplify genes and DNA sequences
-amplify VERY small amounts of DNA (forensic)
What are the steps in PCR amplification? - Answer 1. DNA is denatured by heating
2. Synthetic piece of DNA flanking sequence of interest is added
3. Add DNA polymerase (Taq or Pfu polymerase)
4. heat and cool - repeat
Why is use of thermostable DNA polymerase critical? - Answer because of high temperatures
, What do PCR require? - Answer DNA polymerase and artificial oligonucleotide primers made
of DNA
What is reverse transcription PCR? - Answer can make DNA from an mRNA template
What enzyme is used in reverse transcription PCR? - Answer reverse transcriptase
- converts RNA into complementary DNA
What is gel electrophoresis? - Answer the separation of charges molecules using an electric
field
What are agarose gels stained with? - Answer ethidium bromide
DNA cut with different restriction enzymes will have the same or different banding patterns on
an agarose gel? - Answer different
What is nucleic acid hybridization? - Answer Single strands of DNA, or of DNA and RNA, from
related organisms will hydrogen bond to form a double stranded molecule
What are nucleic acid probes? - Answer ss DNA fragment complementary to the gene of
sequence of interest
How are nucleic acid probes created? - Answer cloning, synthesis, denaturing a fragment of
DNA
What is a southern blot? - Answer a hybridization procedure where DNA is in the gel and
probe is RNA or DNA
What is a northern blot? - Answer RNA Is in the gel and the probe is DNA or RNA
What is FISH? - Answer Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) uses fluorescent probes
attached to oligonucleotide
What is molecular cloning? - Answer movement of a gene from original source to small
genetic element (vector) which can be manipulated