Which of the following Institute has recently developed genetically-modified…

Concept

A genetically-modified (GM) crop carries one or more genes introduced through recombinant-DNA technology to give it a new trait. In cotton, the GM trait is insect resistance: a cry1Ac gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is expressed so the plant makes its own insecticidal protein against bollworms. Crediting the developer of a GM variety means identifying the institution that developed and released that transgenic variety.

Application

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, developed and released indigenous Bt cotton varieties carrying the cry1Ac insect-resistance trait — notably PAU Bt 1 (and F 1861) — which are the GM cotton varieties referred to here. PAU is therefore the correct developer among the choices.

Contrast

• Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi — a premier crop-research body famed for wheat and Basmati rice work, but not the institute credited with these GM cotton varieties.

• Tamil Nadu Agricultural University — a leading agricultural university in the south; its cotton work is conventional breeding, not the transgenic varieties named here.

• G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar — India's first agricultural university, central to the Green Revolution, but not the developer of these GM cotton varieties.

Hence the GM cotton varieties in question were developed by Punjab Agricultural University.