Read the following paragraph and answer the given questions.
Repeated amplification is achieved by the use of a thermostable DNA polymerase (isolated from a bacterium, Thermus aquaticus), which remain active during the high temperature induced denaturation of double stranded DNA. The separated DNA fragments can be visualised only after staining the DNA with a compound known as ethidium bromide followed by exposure to UV radiation. The separated bands of DNA are cut out from the agarose gel and extracted from the gel piece. The convention for naming these enzymes is the first letter of the name comes from the genus and the second two letters come from the species of the prokaryotic cell from which they were isolated, e.g., EcoRI comes from Escherichia coli RY 13. In EcoRI, the letter ‘R’ is derived from the name of strain. Roman numbers following the names indicate the order in which the enzymes were isolated from that strain of bacteria. Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer accomplished this in 1972 by isolating the antibiotic resistance gene by cutting out a piece of DNA from a plasmid which was responsible for conferring antibiotic resistance. Since the DNA is enclosed within the membranes, we have to break the cell open to release DNA, RNA, protein, polysaccharides etc. The RNA can be removed by treatment with ribonuclease whereas proteins can be removed by treatment with protease. Other molecules can be removed by appropriate treatments and purified DNA ultimately precipitates out after the addition of chilled ethanol.
In the PCR, the thermostable DNA polymerase enzyme is obtained from:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Thermus aquaticus
PCR repeats cycles of denaturation at high temperature. The passage says the polymerase used remains active at that high temperature and is isolated from the bacterium Thermus aquaticus, which lives in hot springs. This enzyme is called Taq polymerase.
Option (1) Thermus acuaticus — Incorrect. Misspelt: ‘cu’ in place of ‘qu’.
Option (2) Thermus aquaticus — Correct. The correct spelling, as in the passage.
Option (3) Thermus acquaticus — Incorrect. Misspelt: an extra ‘c’.
Option (4) Thermus aquaticas — Incorrect. Misspelt: ‘as’ in place of ‘us’ at the end. Spell scientific names letter by letter; NTA tests them this way.
Note 1: The passage is taken from NCERT. NTA has put lines of the NCERT text together to make it. Most CUET (UG) questions come straight from NCERT, so study the book line by line, including figures and their titles.
Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2026 on 06-06-2026 (Slot 1), in CUET (UG) 2025 on 20-05-2025 (Slot 2), and in CUET (UG) 2024 on 29-05-2024 (Slot 1).