BIO 171  - Fourth Exam  - 2013
Each question's number is linked to the relevant part of the online book, if possible (some questions relate to multiple sections).

 

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.    An epitope is found
 

                        a.   In a support medium                     b.   In a polymerase mixture

                        c.   On an antigen                                d.   In a genome comparison

                        e.  Dunno - sounds like it should be a bit in fancy clothes

 

 

_______  2.   Which ability was probably critical to the original development of photosynthesis?
 

                        a.  Light sensing                                              b.  Predation

                        c.  Independent movement                               d.  Aerobic respiration

                        e.  The ability to hang around one place and not get really bored

 

 

_______ 3.    Which uses radioactive markers?
 

                        a.  Fluorecence                                    b.   Southern Blot

                        c.  Plasmid vectors                               d.   Monoclonal antibodies

                                       e.  Google Maps Glow-in-the-Dark

 

 

_______ 4.   Which are derived from the antivirus abilities of bacteria?
 

                        a.  Taq polymerase                  b.  Reverse transcriptase

                        c.  Ribozymes                          d.  Restriction enzymes

                                                e.   Very tiny shotguns

 

_______ 5.    The phase “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” applies firmly to
 

                        a.  Publishing research                          b.  Conducting clinical trials

                        c.  Getting into graduate school              d.   Accessing a genome database

                                    e.  A very alarming number of things in life

 

 

_______ 6.    In most analytical methods, proteins are denatured
 

                        a.  To make it easier to break them apart

                        b.  To stop any chemical activity

                        c.  To exaggerate any surface charges

                        d.  To separate them from any nucleic acids

                        e.  Because it makes them sad

 

 

 

 

_______ 7.    The Snowball Period probably most accelerated the evolution of
 

                        a.   Single-celled eukaryotes               b.  Prokaryotes                        c.  Animals

                        d.   Plants                                                        e.  Elves

 

 

 

_______ 8.    Orphan drugs are
 

                        a.  Not able to be patented                  b.  Ones whose patents have lapsed

                        c.  Not cost-effective                          d.  Tested but not approved

                                    e.  There are drugs you get if your parents die?

 

 

 

_______ 9.   Which mutation type produces a frameshift?

                        a.  Inversion                                        b.  Insertion

                        c.  Substitution                                    d.  Derition

                                         e.  Framey-shifty…tion

 

 

 

_______ 10.    Commercial production of many bioactive compounds involves
 

                        a.  Engineered bacteria                                       b.   Knockout mice

                        c.  PCR                                                            d.   Mass spectroscopy

                                                e.  Very smelly factories

 

 

 

_______ 11.   It could be said that most modern biology is
 

                        a.  Chemistry               b.  Genetics                 c.   Math

                        d.  Any of the above                           e.   Legalized torture

 

 

 

_______ 12.   The “plant problem” was associated with
 

                        a.  Hybridization events                                  b.  The first living things

                        c.  Prepping proteins for analysis                     d.  Mass extinctions

                                                e.   People who snort oregano

 

 

_______ 13.  Micelles are a
 

                        a.  Bacterial inclusion                          b.  Virus modification

                        c.  Delivery system                             d.  Separation medium

                                    e.  Unicellular social networking site

 

 

_______ 14.   A factor that always occurs in mass extinctions is
 

                        a.  Atmospheric dust                                       b.  Loss of plants

                        c.  Change in carbon dioxide levels                   d.  Shift in Earth axis

                                                e.  Extinctions that are massive
 

 

_______ 15.   In which process do the materials move through a gas?
 

                        a.  Northern blot                                  b.  Fluorescence

                        c.  Electrophoresis                               d.  Mass spectroscopy

                                    e.  Only rude jokes occur to me now

 

 

_______ 16.   Good animal models should have every feature except
 

                        a.   Small size                                              b.   Capability of asexual reproduction

                        c.   Processes comparable to humans            d.   Short lifespan

                        e.   Well, they have to be photogenic for sure

 

 

_______ 17.   Plants needed a symbiotic relationship with fungi to

 

                        a.  Move onto land                                          b.  Resist viral pathogens

                        c.  Develop photosynthesis originally                 d.  Survive mass extinctions

                                                e.  Have someone to play cards with

 

 

_______ 18.   Which involves inserting one gene inside another?
 

                        a.  Monoclonal antibodies                   b.  Reverse transcriptase

                        c.  Fluorescent tagging                        d.  Northern Blot

                                                e.  The turducken protocol

 

 

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.   The two likeliest staging areas from which aquatic organisms moved onto the land -

2.   Briefly describe two different ways that radiation damage of DNA can bring about the death of affected cells.

3.   What are the two major subject area combined in bioinformatics?

4.   Electrophoresis separates proteins based upon what two features?

5.   Using the appropriate terms, briefly describe how splicing works on messenger RNA.

6.   What is panspermia?

7.   Monoclonal antibodies are produced in a culture of hybrid cells.  What two cell types are hybridized?

8.    What are two features that needed to be present in the very first “living” systems?

9.   What are two features that would probably have shown up very late before early living systems became recognizable as “true” living systems?

10.   Briefly explain why knockout mice have to be inbred offspring.

11.   Near genes are many types of regulatory elements.  What are two different types?

12.  What are four of the challenges of moving to land from aquatic systems?

13.  Describe the main way that pathway genes are different between -
PROKARYOTES	EUKARYOTES

14.   What are two different weaknesses to using cell cultures as test subjects?

15.  Why are genes not generally used for molecular clocks?

16.  Why does Polymerase Chain Reaction require at least two primers?

17.  Briefly explain what is meant by homology in proteins.

 

 

 

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.  Give the steps that repeat in the Polymerase Chain Reaction.  There is not a set number, since some steps can be seen as single or double.  Include all temperature changes.

 

 

 

2.    Using this DNA code give the messenger RNA sequence and, using this chart, give the coded amino acid sequence.

Starting  ___________________________________________________________________________________ Strand     T A C  C  G  A  A  G  G  T  A  A  G  C  A  G  T  A  T  T  T  G  C  G  A T  T   mRNA    ___________________________________________________________________________________   Amino   Acids

 

 

 

3.   Give one type of data looked for in each stage of clinical trials -
PHASE 1	PHASE 2
PHASE 3	PHASE 4

 

 

 

4.   What are three major different events that could bring about a mass extinction?

 

5.   Give four steps, in order, for translation.  You can skip steps, so long as the ones you give are in order.
1	2
3	4

 

 

6.  Briefly explain how each of the two types of genetic redundancy work.

 

7.   Give four steps, in order, between (but not including) primordial soup and first prokaryotes.  Steps can be skipped.
1	2
3	4

 

8.   Briefly describe (a term is not enough) three different mutations that occur at the chromosome level.

 

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.

 

Did you go talk to the program reviewers last Friday?   10 Points.

 

Some bacteria, it is claimed, have genes on each side of the DNA strand, across from each other.  Why would this be a very difficult thing to produce?  Three Points.

 

 

Why might a newly-forming protein be tweaked to form a non-functional form?  Three Points.

 

 

What evidence might support panspermia?  Three Points Each.

 

 

With continental drift, sedimentary rocks might have formed and moved long distances to where they are now.  What feature of the rocks can be used to determine the original latitude of the sediments when they formed?  Three Points.

 

 

What general types (as in phylum-level) of animals were probably well-established on land by the time our ancestors moved there?  Two Points Each.

 

 

Some researchers believe that a critical step in the development of life on earth was the appearance of sediment burrowers.  Why would they be important?  Three Points.

 

 

 

Why do some people think that Nemesis exists?  Three Points.