The bacterium used by 'Eli Lilly', an American Company, to produce insulin chains is:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Escherichia coli
Option (1) Bacillus thuringiensis — Incorrect. It is the source of the Bt toxin genes.
Option (2) Agrobacterium tumefaciens — Incorrect. It is used as a vector to put genes into plants.
Option (3) Escherichia coli — Correct. In 1983 Eli Lilly put the DNA for chains A and B of human insulin into plasmids of E. coli; the chains were joined by disulphide bonds.
Option (4) Streptococcus pneumoniae — Incorrect. It causes pneumonia; Griffith used it in his transformation experiment.
NCERT Extract:
Genetically Engineered Insulin – “… In mammals, including humans, insulin is synthesised as a pro-hormone (like a pro-enzyme, the pro-hormone also needs to be processed before it becomes a fully mature and functional hormone) which contains an extra stretch called the C peptide. This C peptide is not present in the mature insulin and is removed during maturation into insulin.The main challenge for production of insulin using rDNA techniques was getting insulin assembled into a mature form. In 1983, Eli Lilly an American company prepared two DNA sequences corresponding to A and B, chains of human insulin and introduced them in plasmids of E. coli to produce insulin chains.”