NEETZoologyBiotechnology - Principles and Processes
What is the role of agar plates in recombinant technologies?
Options
- ATo allow transformed cells to grow
- BTo inhibit the growth of untransformed cells
- CTo allow the expression of foreign genes in host cells
- DTo purify the desired protein
Correct answer
B. To inhibit the growth of untransformed cells
Step-by-step solution
if a recombinant DNA bearing gene for resistance to an antibiotic (e.g., ampicillin) is transferred into E. coli cells, the host cells become transformed into ampicillin-resistant cells. If we spread the transformed cells on agar plates containing ampicill in, only transformants will grow, untransformed recip ient cells will die . Since, due to ampicillin resistance gene, one is able to select a transformed cell in the presence of ampicillin. The ampicillin resistance gene in this case is called a selectable marker