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UPSC CDS Science & Technology — practice questions

Explore 300 free Science & Technology questions in UPSC CDS Science. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Science & Technology questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 300.

A farmer plants cotton whose genes were altered to resist bollworms. Such an organism is a:Read the answer and worked solution →Golden rice was engineered to enhance which nutrient?Read the answer and worked solution →Bt toxin is produced by the bacterium:Read the answer and worked solution →The Bt toxin stays inactive as a protoxin until it meets the insect gut's:Read the answer and worked solution →Tobacco plants were protected from the nematode Meloidogyne incognita using:Read the answer and worked solution →Nematode-specific genes were introduced into tobacco using which vector?Read the answer and worked solution →About how many recombinant therapeutics are approved for human use worldwide?Read the answer and worked solution →Before recombinant insulin, insulin was extracted from the pancreas of:Read the answer and worked solution →Pro-insulin contains an extra stretch removed during maturation, called the:Read the answer and worked solution →Human insulin chains were first produced in E. coli in 1983 by:Read the answer and worked solution →The first clinical gene therapy in 1990 treated a girl with a deficiency of:Read the answer and worked solution →Very low concentrations of a virus can be detected before symptoms by amplifying nucleic acid with:Read the answer and worked solution →PCR is routinely used to detect which virus in suspected AIDS patients?Read the answer and worked solution →ELISA works on the principle of:Read the answer and worked solution →Over 95 percent of existing transgenic animals are:Read the answer and worked solution →Rosie, the first transgenic cow of 1997, produced milk enriched with:Read the answer and worked solution →Transgenic mice are being used to test the safety of which vaccine?Read the answer and worked solution →Which Indian body decides the validity of GM research and safety of releasing GM organisms?Read the answer and worked solution →In 1997 an American company obtained a patent on:Read the answer and worked solution →Use of bio-resources by multinational companies without proper authorisation is called:Read the answer and worked solution →Industrialised nations are rich financially but poor in:Read the answer and worked solution →Patent attempts have been made on Indian traditional medicines such as turmeric and:Read the answer and worked solution →Catch the Bt cropsRead the answer and worked solution →Pop the diagnostic toolsRead the answer and worked solution →Find the real termRead the answer and worked solution →Slice the biotech wordsRead the answer and worked solution →Farm or medicineRead the answer and worked solution →Which yearRead the answer and worked solution →Type the numberRead the answer and worked solution →Biotech bingoRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

A farmer plants cotton whose genes were altered to resist bollworms. Such an organism is a:

  1. Genetically Modified Organism
  2. Conventional hybrid variety
  3. Naturally occurring wild type
  4. Certified organic crop
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. Genetically Modified Organism

1. Its genes were altered by manipulation. 2. Bt cotton is the classic example. 3. It is a Genetically Modified Organism. _Source: syllabus Biology, Chapter 12, Biotechnology and its Applications._

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Golden rice was engineered to enhance which nutrient?

  1. Vitamin C
  2. Vitamin A
  3. Iron salts
  4. Protein
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: B. Vitamin A

1. GM crops can improve nutritional value. 2. Golden rice is the textbook case. 3. It carries Vitamin A. _Source: syllabus Biology, Chapter 12, Biotechnology and its Applications._

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Bt toxin is produced by the bacterium:

  1. Bacillus thuringiensis
  2. Escherichia coli strain
  3. Agrobacterium species
  4. Salmonella bacteria
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. Bacillus thuringiensis

1. Bt is short for the bacterium's name. 2. Its toxin gene was cloned into crops. 3. The bacterium is Bacillus thuringiensis. _Source: syllabus Biology, Chapter 12, Biotechnology and its Applications._

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