Use the Following Information to Answer Questions

question 130

Multiple Choice

Use the following information to answer questions
About 1 in every 100 Caucasians suffers from celiac disease. These individuals have severe allergic responses and digestive problems when they eat certain grains. Their illness is caused specifically by gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Treatments for this disease often rely on dietary supplements that contain protein-degrading enzymes that can break down the gluten during normal digestion, making it harmless.

One such enzyme is called AN-PEP (an abbreviation for prolyl endoprotease) , and it is isolated from the fungus Aspergillus niger. Various research groups are investigating ways to use this enzyme to treat humans. One group is researching the possibility of adding the gene for AN-PEP to wheat so that gluten protein will be detoxified at the very source.

-If the AN-PEP gene were somehow inserted into the intestinal cells of celiac patients,this would be a form of

• A) gene therapy.
• B) hereditary mutation.
• C) cloning.
• D) All of the above.
• E) None of the above.

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Definitions:

mRNA

Messenger RNA, a type of RNA that carries genetic information from DNA to the ribosome, where it serves as a template for protein synthesis.

Ribosome

A cellular organelle composed of RNA and proteins, found throughout the cytoplasm in cells, which is involved in decoding the mRNA to produce proteins.

Nucleic Acid Bases

The parts of DNA and RNA molecules that carry genetic information, specifically adenine, thymine (in DNA), cytosine, guanine, and uracil (in RNA).

Three-Base Combinations

Sequences of three nucleotide bases in DNA or RNA, known as codons, which specify the addition of a specific amino acid to a growing polypeptide chain during protein synthesis.