PCR was performed to test foods to see if they are GMO foods. We used promoter a
ID: 207001 • Letter: P
Question
PCR was performed to test foods to see if they are GMO foods. We used promoter and terminator sequences most common to plants. We extracted DNA from test foods, ran PCR, and ran gel electrophoresis to see if the test food was positive for GMO.
If you do not detect any amplified product in your food sample with the CaMV/35S promoter and the NOS terminator primers, can you conclude that there is no GM ingredients in your food sample? Why or why not? (Hint: Did you amplify the plant chloroplast gene with the plant master mix?)
Explanation / Answer
In this experiment, PCR is run to see that if the food is a GMO or not. We can find that by checking if the gene of interest that makes it a GMO is inserted or not by amplification. The promoter and terminator sequences were to find out if there is an amplification that was observed. It is possible that even with amplification observed by the CaMV/35S promoter and NOS terminator primers, you might not get any amplified sequence of the GM. The chloroplast gene also act as genetic markers which helps in identifying if the gene of interest has been properly inserted or not. This can actually make a correction. The chloroplast genes can be amplified. On using the master mix of the plant and amplifying the chloroplast gene, it might give us more insight of if there is amplification done in the sequence or not.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.