Consider the following statements:
- 1.Genetic changes can be introduced in the cells that produce eggs or sperms of a prospective parent.
- 2.A person's genome can be edited before birth at the early embryonic stage.
- 3.Human induced pluripotent stem cells can be injected into the embryo of a pig.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3
All three statements describe things that science can already do: edit the genes of egg- and sperm-producing cells, edit the genome of a very early embryo, and inject human stem cells into a pig embryo to make a human-pig chimera. The word 'can' asks about technical possibility, not legal permission.
- ✓ 1. Gene editing of germ-line stem cells and gametes (eggs and sperm) is possible. India's stem cell guidelines name it and restrict such work to laboratory (in vitro) studies.
- ✓ 2. Germline editing means changing genes in eggs, sperm or very early embryos, and the change is heritable. So a person's genome can be edited at the early embryonic stage.
- ✓ 3. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs, adult cells reprogrammed to an embryo-like state) have been injected into pig embryos. Some of the human iPSCs took part in the pig embryos' development, giving a chimera.
Remember · Germline and embryo editing and human-animal chimeras are technically possible today, though India restricts them to regulated laboratory work.
Sources
- ICMR and DBT, National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research 2017 (glossary) ↗ “Germline Editing: It is a form of genetic modification that involves changing genes in eggs, sperm, or very early embryos. … Genome modification including gene editing (for example by CRISPR-Cas9 technology) of stem cells, germ-line stem cells or gamete and human embryos is restricted only to in vitro studies.”
- Wu et al., Interspecies chimerism with mammalian pluripotent stem cells, Cell 2017 (PubMed Central) ↗ “Chimerism is observed with some human iPSCs in post-implantation pig embryos”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·