Biotechnology and Its Applications Question 5
5. The crops engineered for glyphosate are resistant/ tolerant to :
[2015 RS]
(a) Bacteria
(b) Insects
(c) Herbicides
(d) Fungi
Show Answer
Answer : c
Hints & Solutions
(c) Today plants having the broad leaves are made resistant to a powerful bio-degradable herbicide glyphosate. It is an active ingredient of Round Up ready plants. It disturbs the working of EPSP synthetase enzyme. If it is taken up by crop plants they will die. So, the bioengineers have transferred gene for synthesis of EPSP synthetase enzyme to crop plants. EPSP is 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase a key enzyme for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants and many microbes. EPSP synthase catalyzes the addition of phosphoenol pyruvate (PEP) to shikimate-3-phosphate (S3P), generating 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate, which is a precursor for phenylalanine and tyrosine.
