Answer:
b. Bacteria with the desired plasmid produce white colonies.
Explanation:
The bacterial lacZ gene is usually used as a reporter gene, which encodes beta-galactosidase, an enzyme that breakdown lactose but can also breakdown a colourless synthetic analog X-gal, thereby producing blue colonies on X-gal–containing media. But the lacZ will be disabled when the recombinant DNA is spliced into the plasmid. This is because the LacZ protein will not be produced when the gene is disabled. Thus, X-gal will not be broken down and white colonies will be produced, which can then be separated and identified.