A major benefit of transgenic organisms is the ability to harvest medicines from bacteria; such as insulin production. Which option best describes this benefit?

A major benefit of transgenic organisms is the ability to harvest medicines from bacteria; such as insulin production. Which option best describes this benefit?

• A. Ability to harvest medicines from bacteria; insulin production
• B. Increased crop resistance to drought
• C. Naturally occurring crossbreeding
• D. Decreased health risks

Answer: (A)

Transgenic organisms act as production factories for medicines by putting human or other genes into a host organism. A key example is insulin production in bacteria: once the human insulin gene is inserted, the bacteria manufacture insulin protein that can be purified for medical use. This demonstrates the big advantage of the approach—creating scalable, cost-effective production of therapeutic proteins compared to harvesting them from animal sources or human donors. The option that describes harvesting medicines from bacteria and insulin production best captures this benefit because it directly ties genetic engineering to a concrete, impactful medical application. Other choices describe traits or concepts that aren’t central to producing medicines in bacteria—drought resistance is an agricultural trait, crossbreeding is traditional breeding rather than genetic engineering, and decreased health risks isn’t a guaranteed outcome of producing medicines this way.

Transgenic organisms act as production factories for medicines by putting human or other genes into a host organism. A key example is insulin production in bacteria: once the human insulin gene is inserted, the bacteria manufacture insulin protein that can be purified for medical use. This demonstrates the big advantage of the approach—creating scalable, cost-effective production of therapeutic proteins compared to harvesting them from animal sources or human donors. The option that describes harvesting medicines from bacteria and insulin production best captures this benefit because it directly ties genetic engineering to a concrete, impactful medical application. Other choices describe traits or concepts that aren’t central to producing medicines in bacteria—drought resistance is an agricultural trait, crossbreeding is traditional breeding rather than genetic engineering, and decreased health risks isn’t a guaranteed outcome of producing medicines this way.