In the context of recent advances in human reproductive technology, "Pronuclear Transfer" is used for
- A.fertilization of egg in vitro by the donor sperm
- B.genetic modification of sperm producing cells
- C.development of stem cells into functional embryos
- D.prevention of mitochondrial diseases in offspring
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, prevention of mitochondrial diseases in offspring. Pronuclear transfer is a mitochondrial replacement technique that stops a mother from passing faulty mitochondria to her child.
Mitochondria have their own small DNA, inherited only from the mother; defects in it cause serious muscle, heart and brain diseases. In pronuclear transfer, the mother's egg is fertilised by the father's sperm, and within hours the two pronuclei, carrying the parents' nuclear DNA, are lifted out and placed into a donor's fertilised egg whose own pronuclei have been removed but whose healthy mitochondria remain. The child gets almost all its genes from its parents and a tiny share from the donor, hence the name "three-parent baby". The United Kingdom legalised the method in 2015.
A is wrong: that is ordinary IVF with donor sperm.
B is wrong: no sperm-producing cells are modified.
C is wrong: the technique works on a fertilised egg, not on stem cells.
Exam tip: pronuclear transfer and maternal spindle transfer = mitochondrial replacement therapy.
Practice Questions
View allIt is possible to produce algae based biofuels, but what is/are the likely limitation(s) of developing countries in promoting this industry?
1. Production of algae based biofuels is possible in seas only and not on continents.
2. Setting up and engineering the algae based biofuel production requires high level of expertise/technology until the construction is completed.
3. Economically viable production necessitates the setting up of large scale facilities which may raise ecological and social concerns.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- A.1 and 2 only
- B.2 and 3 only
- C.3 only
- D.1, 2 and 3
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Read the full explanation →The identity platform 'Aadhaar' provides open "Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)". What does it imply?
1. It can be integrated into any electronic device.
2. Online authentication using iris is possible.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.Both 1 and 2
- D.Neither 1 nor 2
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Read the full explanation →The main detector planned for the India-based Neutrino Observatory in Theni district is
- A.a water Cherenkov tank
- B.a 50,000-tonne magnetised Iron CALorimeter
- C.a liquid argon time projection chamber
- D.a superconducting tokamak
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Read the full explanation →LIGO-India, the third detector of the LIGO network, is being set up at which place?
- A.Aundha, Hingoli district, Maharashtra
- B.Hanle, Ladakh
- C.Pottipuram, Theni district, Tamil Nadu
- D.Khodad, Pune district, Maharashtra
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The site was chosen for its flat, seismically quiet ground, the Union Cabinet approved the project in principle in 2016 and in full in April 2023, and it is being executed by the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology with IPR, RRCAT Indore and IUCAA…
Read the full explanation →Gravitational waves, first detected by LIGO in September 2015, had been predicted a century earlier by whom?
- A.Isaac Newton
- B.Albert Einstein
- C.Niels Bohr
- D.Stephen Hawking
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Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time thrown out by violent events such as the merger of two black holes, and they follow from the general theory of relativity that Einstein published in 1915, with the prediction of the waves set out in 1916.
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