BI 171 - Second Exam - 2003

Links go to Pertinent Sections of Book

 

Multiple Choice.

Place the letter of the choice that best answers the question on the line to the left.
Two Points Each. NOTE: "e" answers are never the correct answer.

 

_______ 1. Which have a major use as a place to store energy?

                        a. DNA and enzymes                         b. Lipids and proteins
                        c. Starches and lipids                        d. DNA and RNA
   
                                                 e. Oil tanks and sewer gas

 

_______ 2. A polyunsaturated lipid would contain

                        a. Double bonds                 b. Sugars                 c. Amino groups
                        d. Sulfur                                         e. Fewer parrots

 

                3. Which are effective insulators?

                        a. Proteins and carbohydrates                 b. Sugars and starches
                        c. Lipids and water                                d. Lipids and proteins
   
                                 e. Whatever can properly be described as "snuggly"

 

_______ 4. Which situation is associated with hydration shells?

                        a. Water picked up by paper towels             b. Sugar dissolved in water
   
                         c. Water strider sitting on surface tension     d. Ice floating in a glass
   
                                         e. The latest craze in recreational clothing

 

_______ 5. When sugars form polymers, the bonds differ

                        a. Only in number                                b. According to the use of the starch
                        c. Depending upon the organism         d. According to the use of the lipid
   
                                                         e. If the sugars are drunk enough

 

_______ 6. What two functions would the earliest "living" molecules have?

                       a. Respiration and digestion                           b. Reproduction and respiration
   
                         c. Respiration and waste production            d. Reproduction and evolution
   
                                     e. Slimyness and names that can’t be pronounced

 

_______ 7. Which term is most closely associated with isotopes?

                        a. Bonding                     b. Nuclear stability                     c. Chemical stability
                        d. Polarity                                                 e. Springfield

 

_______ 8. A pH 4 solution is a ______________ than a pH 5 solution.

                        a. Two times stronger base                         b. Ten times stronger base
   
                          c. Two times stronger acid                          d. Ten times stronger acid
   
                                                             e. Different number

 

_______ 9. Which would have glycerol as a component?

                        a. Lipid                     b. Protein                     c. Nucleic acid
                        d. Carbohydrate                 e. Something glycereally special

 

                10. What basic feature is based on carbohydrates in some organisms and 
                                    proteins
in others?

                        a. Movement                 b. Respiration                 c. Energy usage  
                        d. Structure                                     e. Personality

 

_______ 11. The basic "string" inside an amino acid involves

                        a. Two Carbons and a Nitrogen                   b. Three Carbons
                        c. A Carbon - Oxygen Ring                         d. Rings and phosphate groups
   
                                             e. Nothing that could really be called "string"

 

_______ 12. Which environment is not considered a possible site for the origins of Life?

                        a. Hydrothermal vents             b. Mud flats             c. Atmosphere
                        d. Ocean surface                             e. Christina Aquilera

 

_______ 13. Proteins may be properly strung together in the laboratory, but the final molecules
   
                                     may not work properly due to a lack of

                        a. Oxygen                         b. Enzymes                         c. Energy
                        d. Chaperonins                                         e. Interest

 

_______ 14. Respiration processes produce what to act as fuel?

                        a. Sugar                         b. Oxygen                         c. ATP
   
                          d. Starch                                 e. Gee, I thought I knew this one...

 

_______ 15. All of the iguanas of the Galapagos Islands most likely evolved from a small group 
                                        that arrived there a few million years ago, working with the alleles of that 
                                        limited group. This is an example of

                        a. Colony organization                         b. Founder effect
                        c. Bottleneck effect                             d. Fragmentation
   
                             e. The stories that lizard grandfathers tell the hatchlings

 

_______ 16. Which reason explains why ionic bonds are rare in biological systems?

                       a. They separate in water
   
                         b. They are too powerful to give organic molecules the ability to shift form
   
                         c. The atoms involved are too rare
   
                         d. Their mere presence has a drastic effect on pH.
   
                         e. They’ve never been that popular with the key cliques

 

                17. A spiral, helix structure can be an important molecular arrangement in

                          a. Lipids and starches                         b. Proteins and starches
   
                             c. Nucleic Acids and lipids                 d. Proteins and nucleic acids
   
                                                                         e. Staircases

 

                 18. Lactose intolerance comes from a lack of lactase for digestion - the person lacks

                        a. Hydrolysis sugars                             b. Hydrolysis enzymes
   
                         c. Dehydration synthesis sugars             d. Dehydration synthesis enzymes
   
                         e. The good sense to keep quiet about it and prevent questions like this

 

Short Answer. 

Pick NINE questions to answer in the spaces provided.
NOTE
: if you answer MORE than nine, only the first nine will be corrected.
Four Points each. Partial credit is possible.

1. What are two different classes of molecules that are compared for classification purposes?
 

 

2. All amino acids in the proteins of living things have a feature in common that is very difficult to explain. What is it? Use the proper term here.

 

 

3. Label the "pieces" with general terms in the following reaction -

                                                    Light, Heat
     
       C4H10    +    Br2                -------------->              C4H9Br    +    H2

      __________________      ______________        ____________________

4. What two features of RNA make it a good candidate for the first molecules of Life?
 

 

5. How many carbons in each?

        _____ Ethane            _____ Methane               _____ Propane

6. Draw a possible configuration of the molecule C2H5O3.

 

 

 

 

For 2 bonus points, what term applies to an alternative arrangement of the atoms?_________

7. Describe what happens, including why, when a protein molecule denatures.

 

 

8. To produce separate evolutionary paths, every type of isolation has to isolate how?

 

 

9. Briefly explain why Carbon dating is not very useful for anything more than 60,000 years old?

 

 

10. Explain what happens to the molecules in water as the temperature drops from 10o C to 0o C.

 

 

11. Why does polarity exist in some molecules? Explain, don’t define!

 

 

12. Briefly explain how a gene sequence relates to the protein sequence it codes for. Use proper terms.

 

 

13. Give an example of an epigenetic factor that follows Lamarckian patterns. It should be clear from the example what those patterns are.

 

 

14. Briefly explain how panspermia is supposed to work.

 

 

 

15. Other than the "Big Four," what other elements play important roles in biological systems?
 

 

Long Answer. 

Select and answer completely any four of the following questions.
Note:
if you answer more than four, only the first four will be corrected.
Seven Points Each. Partial credit is possible.

1. For any four different organic functional groups -

NAME OF THE GROUP

ATOMIC NATURE OF THE GROUP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Put these in chronological order, according to the way current theories think they occurred - number from 1 (earliest) to 9 (latest).
            Cambrian
_____ Explosion
           Aerobic
_____ Respiration
             Photosynthesis
_____
           Molecular
_____ Evolution
           Primordial
_____ Soup Forms
              Eukaryotes
_____
           Life on
_____ Land
           Multicellular
_____ Life
              Protocells
_____ (First Membranes)
3. Give the four structural levels of proteins in one column and describe that level in the other column.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Give a brief description (more than a simple term - put it in sentence form) of four different uses for proteins.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. According to Hardy-Weinberg, alleles will persist indefinitely in a population if what four things are true about that population? (There are more than 4)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.  From Column 2:

24.305

Mg

Magnesium

12

How

many

protons?

How

many

neutrons?

How

many

electrons? (Radical form)

Typical

ion

form?

7. Given here is one side (strand) of DNA. Starting with this strand, show:

Starting      ____________________________________________________________
Strand          
T  C  G  G  T  A  A  T  G  C  C  T  A  T  C  T  C  A  A  T  T

Other DNA ____________________________________________________________
Strand

Messenger ____________________________________________________________
RNA from 1st strand

How many codons are on the starting strand? ___________

 

Link to Answer Key

BONUS QUESTIONS. 

Answer as many or as few as you wish. You can't lose points on the rest of the exam by getting these wrong. Partial credit is possible.

 

Briefly explain why the "snowball" period would have greatly increased competition, leading to rapid evolution. Four Points.

 

 

Photosynthesis might have originated as a combination of which two simpler systems? Three Points each.

 

 

Give two different vitamins that function in systems that deal with free radicals, for Two Points each.

 

 

What’s happening in atoms along the "bridges" of the Periodic Table? Four Points.

 

 

What is a molecular prosthetic group? Four Points.

 

 

What happens to sugar molecules that may create aging effects? Four Points.

 

 

What cultural feature is common in ethnic groups that tend to be lactose intolerant? Four Points.

 

 

Give an example of a function of "Junk DNA." Four Points.

 

 

 
 

BI 171

McDarby

 

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