9700_s16_qp_42
A paper of Biology, 9700
Questions:
10
Year:
2016
Paper:
4
Variant:
2

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Malaria is a serious and often fatal disease that is transmitted by the mosquito Anopheles gambiae. One method of reducing the incidence of malaria is to control the numbers of these mosquitoes. In mosquitoes, as in humans, males have an X chromosome and a Y chromosome, while females have two X chromosomes. Researchers investigated the possibility of producing genetically modified (GM), fertile male mosquitoes in which most of the sperm contained a Y chromosome and not an X chromosome. They predicted that introducing these males into a population of A. gambiae could greatly reduce the number of females in each generation and therefore reduce the numbers of eggs laid. In order to produce the GM males, the researchers inserted the gene coding for a restriction endonuclease called I-PpoI. This restriction endonuclease was known to destroy the X chromosome of A. gambiae. Explain the meaning of the term restriction endonuclease and suggest why I-PpoI destroys the X chromosome, but not the Y chromosome. The researchers introduced the gene for I-PpoI and also a gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP) into one of the autosomes (a chromosome other than X or Y) of male mosquitoes. Explain why the researchers introduced the gene for GFP, as well as the gene for I-Ppol. The researchers found that I-Ppol destroyed the X chromosome during meiosis in the GM male mosquitoes. This prevented these males from producing sperm containing an X chromosome. However, I-PpoI was still active in zygotes produced by the fusion of female gametes with sperm containing a Y chromosome. Explain why this meant that the GM males produced no offspring at all. The researchers modified the gene for I-Ppol, so that it produced a version of I-PpoI that was active only during meiosis in the males, and was not active in the zygote. They then tested the effect of introducing these GM males into a mosquito population. • Several cages were set up. 50 adult male mosquitoes and 50 adult female mosquitoes without the I-Ppol gene were placed in each cage. • 150 adult GM males were introduced into each cage. In half of the cages (A), these GM males had the normal gene for I-Ppol. In the rest of the cages (B), the GM males had the modified gene for I-Ppol. • The mean number of adult female offspring per cage was determined over the next six generations. shows the results. mean number of adult females generation GM males introduced % $ Describe and suggest explanations for the differences between the mean numbers of adult females in the two sets of cages during the experiment. Suggest possible difficulties that might arise if the technique of releasing GM male mosquitoes with the modified I-Ppol gene were used to try to control populations of A. gambiae that occur naturally in the wild.
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