Question

As a newly hired molecular biologist for a company that produces genetically modified seeds, your first project is to ensure that a GM cotton plant carrying a bacterial insecticide gene is expressed in tissues of seedlings as well as mature plants. To better understand regulation of the gene, you decide to use GFP fusion to detect activity of the promoter and also use GFP fusion to determine the location of the protein in plants tissues at various stages of growth.

a. transcriptional; translational
b. translational; transcriptional
c. transcriptional; transcriptional
d. translational; translational

Answer 1

For a GM cotton plant expressing a bacterial insecticide gene, GFP fusion is used at the transcriptional level to detect promoter activity and at the translational level to determine protein location, leading to the answer 'a. transcriptional; translational'.

Step-by-step explanation:

In regards to ensuring that a genetically modified (GM) cotton plant expresses a bacterial insecticide gene in both seedling and mature plant tissues, we would be looking at utilizing green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions for two distinct purposes: to detect promoter activity and to determine the location of the resultant protein within the plant tissues at various stages of growth.

Using GFP to detect promoter activity pertains to the transcriptional level of gene expression. Promoter activity occurs when a section of DNA initiates the transcription of a particular gene, so observing GFP here would provide insights into the transcriptional control of the insecticide gene.

On the other hand, GFP fusion to determine the location of the protein involves tracking the protein post-translation, which relates to the translational level of gene expression. GFP-tagged proteins allow us to visualize where proteins are in the plant, showing their distribution and accumulation in specific tissues.

Therefore, the correct answer to ensuring the bacterial insecticide gene is expressed in GM cotton involves both transcriptional and translational levels of gene regulation, which corresponds to the option 'a. transcriptional; translational'.