Scientists can genetically engineer a bacterial cell to produce human insulin in order to mass-produce insulin for use in pharmaceuticals. This artificially produces insulin can be used to help people with diabetes regulate their blood glucose levels. Which components of the genetic code must be inserted into the bacterial cell in order for it to manufacture the insulin?

Question

Scientists can genetically engineer a bacterial cell to produce human insulin in order to mass-produce insulin for use in pharmaceuticals. This artificially produces insulin can be used to help people with diabetes regulate their blood glucose levels. Which components of the genetic code must be inserted into the bacterial cell in order for it to manufacture the insulin?
Responses
A	The entire human genomeThe entire human genome
B	The human gene for insulinThe human gene for insulin
C	Ribosomes from human cellsRibosomes from human cells
D	The mRNA encoding the insulin information

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The correct response is: **B The human gene for insulin** To enable a bacterial cell to produce human insulin, scientists need to insert the specific human gene that encodes for insulin into the bacterial DNA. This allows the bacteria to use its own cellular machinery to transcribe and translate the insulin gene into the corresponding insulin protein. The other options do not adequately address what is necessary for the bacteria to produce insulin.