Question

All the following statements about Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer are correct but one is wrong. Which one is wrong?

• A. They discovered recombinant DNA ( rDNA) technology which marked the birth of modern biotechnology.
• B. They first produced a healthy sheep clone, a Finn Dorset lamb, Dolly, from the differentiated adult mammary cells.
• C. They invented genetic engineering by combining a piece of foreign DNA containing a gene from a bacterium with a bacterial (E. coli) plasmid using the enzyme restriction endonuclease.
• D. They isolated the antibiotic resistance gene by cutting out a piece of DNA from a plasmid which was responsible for conferring antibiotic resistance.

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

They first produced a healthy sheep clone, a Finn Dorset lamb, Dolly, from the differentiated adult mammary cells.

• The recombinant DNA technology by which DNA fragments from different organisms are joined together to produce new genetic combinations was discovered by Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer.
• They used restriction endonucleases to digest a plasmid from E. coli and a foreign DNA segment and ligated them to produce a recombinant DNA.
• They discovered antibiotic resistance gene from a piece of DNA that was conferring resistance to the transformed cells to grow in presence of that antibiotic.

• Dolly, a Finn Dorset lamb, was produced by gene cloning by Ian Wilmut and his co-workers.
• Hence Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer are not associated with the discovery of Finn Dorset lamb Dolly.

So, the correct answer is option B.