UPSC Prelims 2018 Question:

With reference to the Genetically Modified mustard (GM mustard) developed in India,

consider the following statements:

1. GM mustard has the genes of a soil bacterium that give the plant the property of pest-resistance to a wide variety of pests.
2. GM mustard has the genes that allow the plant cross-pollination and hybridization.
3. GM mustard has been developed jointly by the IARI and Punjab Agricultural University.
   
   

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Explanation:

• Mustard (Brassica juncea) is an important oilseed crop of India, grown in around 6-7 million ha area during the rabi season mostly in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh.
  
  
• Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11) is a result of a cross between two varieties: Varuna and Early Heera-2. Such a cross wouldn’t have happened naturally and was done after introducing genes from two soil bacterium called barnase and barstar. The result of this cross pollination was increased yield, and not the pest resistance. So, statement 1 is not correct.
  
  
• Mustard is a self-pollinating plant and therefore a challenge for plant-breeders to cross different mustard varieties and induce desirable traits. Being able to turn off this self-pollinating trait to enable such crossings and then restoring the trait, to enable seed production, is how the mustard plant’s genes are to be manipulated. It has mainly two genes, barnase and barstar that allow for cross-pollination and hybridisation in mustard. So, statement 2 is correct.
  
  

• It was developed by researchers at the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, at the University of Delhi. So, statement 3 is not correct.
  
  

Therefore, option (2) is the correct answer.

Subject: Environment | Biotechnology