Biology 204

Principles of Biology I

Assignment 2B

For students with first names starting with the

letters H to N.

This assignment is graded out of 110 points, and is

worth 10% of your final mark. Please submit this
assignment after you have completed Chapter 16
and before you write the final exam.

A. Definition/Comparison Questions

Instructions: In your own words, define the pairs

of terms given below. Write in complete sentences,
stating the differences and relationships between
the two terms, and give specific examples where
appropriate. A complete answer usually requires
four to eight sentences.

Each question is worth four marks, for a total of 40

marks.

1. centriole / kinetochore

 a pair of centrioles are the central part of the

centrosome which is the MTOC (microtubule
organizing centre) in animals

 main function of the centrioles is the generation

Principles of Biology I 1
 of MT for flagella and cilia

 kinetochor is a complex of proteins formed at the

centromere (point of connection between the two
sister chromatids)

 the microtubules of the spindle apparatus attach

at the kinetochore

2. cleavage furrow / cell plate

 both terms refer to cytokinesis, the last stage in

mitosis at the end of which two cells form

 a cleavage furrow is formed in animals cells and

it gradually deepens until it results in separating
the two new daughter cells

 in contrast, plant cells form a new cell wall

called cell plate that eventually separates the
two daughter cells

3. allele / locus

 locus refers to the location at which a particular

gene is found on the chromosome

 alleles are different forms of a gene

 an individual may have up to two different

alleles of an individual gene on its two
homologous chromosomes

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  a population may have multiple alleles of a gene

4. RNA primer / DNA polymerase

 DNA polymerase is the main enzyme of DNA

replication in both pro- and eukaryotes

 It can only work on single strands and only in

one direction of the strand, from the 5' end to the
3' end (as defined by the position of C in
deoxyribose)

 it works by adding nucleotides to the 3' end of

the strand

 it acts at the replication fork where the original

double strand opens

 it is unable to start working on a fresh DNA

strand by itself and requires a RNA primer which
is a short sequence of RNA made by a primase

 once the RNA primer is produced, polymerase

can start adding nucleotides at the 3' end

 later the RNA primer is replaced by DNA

5. guanine / cytosine

 both are nitrogenous bases that form the variable

part in a DNA molecule

 bound to the sugar in the nucleic acid

Principles of Biology I 3
  found both in DNA and RNA

 guanine purine (double ring system), cytosine a

pyrimidine (single ring system)

 G and C complementary in DNA, meaning the

two base pair from one strand of the double helix
to the other (and also from DNA to mRNA)

 form three hydrogen bonds between each other

6. translation / anticodon

 Translation is the process in which the

information on the messenger RNA is coded into
a protein

 Location ribosomes

 in prokaryotes anywhere, in eukaryotes the

mRNA must first move from nucleus to
cytoplasm

 tRNA carries a specific amino acid to the

ribosome

 tRNA has a corresponding anticodon that

specifies where it binds to the mRNA

 anticodon is a sequence of three bases that binds

to the corresponding codon on the mRNA

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  ribosomes move along the codons of mRNA
from 5' to 3'

7. operator / promoter

 both terms refer to gene regulation in

prokaryotes

 in prokaryotes several functional genes are

organized in operons, those are transcribed as a
unit

 promoters and operators are located in that order

upstream from the genes that they control

 promoter is the binding site for RNA polymerase

 operator is a site of regulation, a repressor can

bind which results in polymerase unable to
transcribe

 inactivation of the repressor will lead to

transcription

 this is called negative regulation

 lac operon or trp operon as examples

8. conjugation / transformation

 both terms refer to parasexuality in prokaryotes

 conjugation involves an F factor, a plasmid

whose possession makes a bacterial cell F+

Principles of Biology I 5
  F+ cells can conjugate with F- cells by forming a
sex pilus and the plasmid replicates as it moves
into F- cells, making the latter F+

 no exchange but unidirectional

 in Hfr cells the plasmid first recombines with the

main bacterial DNA

 it then conjugates with a F- cell and part of its

main DNA moves into the recipient while it
replicates

 it may transfer genes from the main DNA to the

recipient which recombine with the existing
DNA

 recipient remains F- as not the entire F factor is

transferred

 in transformation bacterial cells take up pieces of

DNA e.g. plasmids from the environment

9. RFLPs / Southern blot analysis

 applications of DNA technology

 RFLPs are restriction fragment length

polymorphisms

 created by the action of restriction endonucleases

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  each restriction enzyme cuts only at a specific
sequence of less than 10 bases

 DNA subjected to restriction enzymes is cut into

restriction fragments that can be analyzed

 mutations of DNA may add or remove

characteristic sequences, as a result restriction
enzymes may no longer cut or may find new
restriction sites

 as a result there are more/less restriction

fragments

 Southern blot analysis uses gel electrophoresis to

separate restriction fragments and the entire
DNA is transferred onto filter paper

 a labelled probe of single stranded DNA with the

sequence of interest (e.g. radioactivity) is
applied to the filter paper and hybridizes with the
respective band on the filter paper where it can
be detected

10. pleiotropy / polygenic inheritance

 both are phenomena not contained in Mendel's

basic laws of inheritance

 pleiotropy refers to a single gene influencing

more than a single trait

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  example sickle cell gene that causes a variety of
symptoms

 in polygenic inheritance the above is switched

around: one single trait can be influenced by
several genes

 these quantitative traits result in a continuous

distribution

 human body height as an example

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 A. Short Answer/Short Essay Questions

Instructions: Answer each of the questions given

below in your own words. Write in complete
sentences where appropriate. A complete answer
usually requires one to two sentences per mark, so a
three-mark question would be answered in three to
six sentences. This section is worth a total of 40
marks.

(4 marks) 1. Explain how CDKs regulate cell division.

CDKs only function after binding to cyclins

while CDK conc. remains more or less the same

throughout the cell cycle, the concentration of cyclins
varies which explains different levels of activity by the
cyclin CDK complex through the cell cycle

(4 marks) 2. Explain the role of transposable elements in

eukaryotes.
 jumping genes = mobile elements = transposable
elements (TE)

 refers to movement of genes or groups of genes within

the same genome

 two mechanism, cut and paste or copy and paste, in the

latter the TE remains also in the old location

 TE don't really jump but require some contact with the

target location

Principles of Biology I 9
  Eukaryotes have transposons and retrotransposons

 transposons similar in all aspects to prokaryote TE

 retrotransposons transribe a RNA and use reverse

transcriptase to create a DNA copy that is then
integrated into a different location (copy-paste)

(8 marks) 3. Using the following DNA template strand

sequence, answer the
questions that follow:
3’–TGCAGGAAGCTACATTAG–5’
a. What is the mRNA sequence?
b. What is the final sequence of amino acids in
the peptide produced?
c. If the sequence is mutated so that adenine at
position 11 is replaced with uracil, how will
the peptide be affected? What kind of a
mutation is this?
a) 5’-ACGUCCUUCGAUGUAAUC-3’

b) NH3+-Thr-Ser-Phe-Asp-Val-Ile-COO-
c)NH3+-Thr-Ser-Phe-Val-Val-Ile-COO-. Asp is replaced
with valine, this type of mutation is called Missense
mutation.

(5 marks) 4. a. What is an operon?

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 b. How do inducible operons (e.g., the lactose
operon) and repressible operons (e.g., the
tryptophan operon) benefit a bacterial cell?
a)
 regulatory unit in bacteria consisting of a promoter, operator and
structural genes

 promoter binding site of RNA polymerase

 operator site of regulation where repressor can bind

 if repressor binds, polymerase cannot progress, no transcription

b)

 saves resources and energy:

 inducible operons are normally turned off; no point switching it

on in the absence of lactose

 repressible operons are normally switched on; however, excess

tryptophan turns it off, no point to produce more tryptophan
when there is enough

(5 marks) 5. Explain the possible role of telomerase in

cellular aging and in cancer formation.
 Telomerase enzyme is also called as terminal transferase
and is a ribonucleoprotein that facilitates binding of
telomere repeat sequences to the 3' end of telomeres.

Principles of Biology I 11
  Telomerase helps in maintaining the balance of telomere
length as telomeres are susceptible to senescence after a
few replications.

 The absence of telomerase activity due to loss of binding

site on telomere leads to aging.

 TRF2 plays a very critical role as it provides telomere end

protection and facilitates formation of the t-loop
conformation. In case the TRF2 region gets disrupted,
either through over expression or deletion, the protective
capped structure gets destroyed exposing the chromosome
ends.

 When this happens since telomerase attachment is very

much controlled by the capping 3’ strand, that control and
regulation is lost. This leads to telomere length increase by
telomerase activity which leads to cancer formation. This
happens when TRF2 is over expressed. In case where
TRF2 gets deleted, telomerase binding site is lost and this
leads to aging.

(6 marks) 6. a. Draw a diagram to show what could happen

during meiosis that would result in an egg with two
X chromosomes.
b. If this egg is fertilized and develops, what are
the possible karyotypes of the offspring?
a) Nondisjunction event of one X chromosome from a Y chromosome
during meiosis in the female

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Nondisjunction event of one X chromosome from a X chromosome
during meiosis in the male

Principles of Biology I 13
b) The other possibility is that the offspring may be a female
exhibiting the trisomy of the X chromosomes of the sex chromosomes
in the karyotype, the remaining autosomes will be normal. So it is
XXX in terms of the sex chromosomes.

(6 marks) 7. A female yellow Labrador retriever homozygous

for coat colour
(bbee) is mated with a male black lab. They have
two chocolate
puppies, three black puppies and one yellow
puppy. What is the
genotype of the father? Use Punnett squares to
show your reasoning.
There are 4 possible genotypes for being black male (BBEE, BbEe,
BbEE, BBEe). Out of four genotypes, only one genotype BbEe could

14 Biology 204
be able to give all three phenotypes (yellow, black, chocolate) when
mated with homozygous bbee. To express black, chocolate, yellow in
progeny, at least one allele B (dominant) for black, one allele E
(dominant) for chocolate, two alleles (recessive b and e) for yellow
should be donated by male respectively. So, the genotype of the
father will be BbEe.

(2 marks) 8. What is a proteome, and why is it studied in

addition to (or instead of the genome?
Proteome refers to the set of protein that is expressed in a given
organism in a given environment. The study of proteome is as
important as the study of genome. Although the genome reveals all the
genes present inside a cell, however at a given time all the genes are
not expressed. So only the study of proteome gives us the information
of all the proteins that are expressed in a cell in a given time.

Principles of Biology I 15
 B. Multiple Choice Questions

Instructions: Select the single best answer to each

of the questions given below. Each question is
worth one mark, for a total of 30 marks.

1. A zygote contains the ________ complement of

chromosomes.
a. haploid
b. diploid
c. polyploid
d. spermatogenesis
e. none of these

11. How is the nucleoid of a bacterial cell

replicated?
a. The linear DNA molecule is replicated from
multiple origins of replication bidirectionally.
b. The linear DNA molecule is replicated from
one origin of replication bidirectionally.
c. The circular DNA molecule is replicated from
multiple origins of replication bidirectionally.
d. The circular DNA molecule is replicated from
one origin of replication bidirectionally.
e. The circular DNA molecule is replicated from
one origin of replication unidirectionally.

12. Some cats have calico coats. These result from

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 a. polygenic inheritance.
b. epistasis.
c. pleiotropy.
d. inactivation of the X chromosome.
e. independent assortment.

13. A male human with normal vision is mated with

a colour blind woman. If they have children
together, what is the probability that they will
have a colour blind daughter?
a. 1
b. 0.75
c. 0.5
d. 0.25
e. 0

14. Which of the following is NOT correct about

bacterial conjugation?
a. F– cells do not contain the F factor.
b. Bacterial conjugation results in an exchange
of genes between two bacterial cells.
c. Genes on the F factor code for sex pili.
d. Genes can be transferred from the donor to the
recipient.
e. Hfr cells can produce sex pili.

Principles of Biology I 17
 15. In generalized transduction, a bacterium obtains
DNA from a virus as a result of a lytic cycle. The
bacterium will
a. survive.
b. harbour a prophage.
c. die immediately.
d. reproduce for a few generations, until the
prophage becomes virulent.
e. contain virus nucleic acid.

16. A repressible operon is usually controlled by

a. an inactive repressor that allows the operon to
be in the “on” state.
b. the supply of the precursor product for the
enzymes.
c. an inactive repressor that keeps the operon in
the “off” state.
d. tryptophan.
e. being turned “on,” usually by the end product
of the pathway.

17. A karyotype reveals that an individual is XYY.

Based on your knowledge of human genetics,
you conclude that this individual is
phenotypically
a. female and has unusual physical features.
b. female and is sterile.

18 Biology 204
 c. female and is fertile.
d. male and is sterile.
e. male and is fertile.

Principles of Biology I 19
 18. Translocation occurs when
a. part of a chromosome breaks off and attaches
to a nonhomologous chromosome.
b. part of a chromosome breaks off and attaches
to a homologous chromosome.
c. crossing-over events occur.
d. genes move from one area on a chromosome
to another area on the same chromosome.
e. a Y chromosome replaces an X chromosome
in a female cell.

19. In a plant cell, cytokinesis begins with the

formation of
a. an aster.
b. a mitotic spindle.
c. a Golgi complex.
d. a cell wall.
e. a cell plate.

20. In a human cell at prophase I, there are

________ tetrads.
a. 92
b. 46
c. 23
d. 2
e. 4

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 21. In which phase are chromosomes least
condensed?
a. metaphase
b. prophase
c. anaphase
d. interphase
e. telophase

Principles of Biology I 21
 22. Translation is the process whereby the ________
moves in order
to place the tRNA bound to the growing
polypeptide chain in
the ________ site, thereby freeing the ________
site for a new
aminoacyl-tRNA.
a. mRNA; A; P
b. ribosome; P; A
c. tRNA; P; A
d. ribosome; A; P
e. tRNA; A; P

23. Which of the following statements about DNA is

FALSE?
a. DNA is capable of forming many different
sequences.
b. DNA contains thymine instead of uracil.
c. DNA is double-stranded in eukaryotic cells.
d. DNA is single-stranded in prokaryotic cells.
e. DNA contains the sugar deoxyribose.

24. Binary fission occurs when

a. mitosis takes place without cytokinesis.
b. homologous chromosomes have already
paired.

22 Biology 204
 c. the cyclin-Cdk complex is no longer
phosphorylating enzymes.
d. the cell cycle is out of control.
e. a prokaryotic cell reproduces.

25. “Sticky ends” are

a. the single-stranded ends of a DNA segment
created by some restriction enzymes.
b. a problem in recombinant DNA technology
because they form loops of single-stranded
DNA.
c. double-stranded ends of a DNA segment
created by some restriction enzymes.
d. sites of the origin of replication in
prokaryotes.
e. sugar molecules that are bound to the ends of
a DNA fragment.

Principles of Biology I 23
 26. Enzymes called ________ form breaks in DNA
molecules to prevent overtwisting in the DNA
helix during replication.
a. topoisomerases
b. single-strand binding proteins
c. DNA polymerases
d. RNA polymerases
e. DNA ligases

27. What is the probability that two lizards that are

heterozygous for striped tails (Ss) will produce
an offspring that is homozygous for
no stripes (ss) on its tail?
a. 1
b. 1/2
c. 1/4
d. 1/8
e. 0

28. Crossing over occurs in which phase of mitosis?

a. metaphase
b. anaphase
c. prophase
d. telophase
e. none of the above

24 Biology 204
 29. Genes that encode proteins that are always
needed are called
a. repressible genes.
b. promoter genes.
c. constitutive genes.
d. inducible genes.
e. operons.

30. A polyribosome is
a. a complex of many ribosomes and an mRNA.
b. a complex of many ribosomes in eukaryotes.
c. an initiation complex in eukaryotes.
d. an elongation complex in eukaryotes.
e. a complex of a ribosome with its two subunits
and several mRNAs.

31. Which of the following statements concerning

the cell cycle is FALSE?
a. CDKs are involved in the regulation of the
cell cycle.
b. External factors are involved in the regulation
of the cell cycle.
c. CDKs are active only when they bind to
cyclins.
d. The amount of CDKs changes during the cell
cycle.

Principles of Biology I 25
 e. Several types of cyclin regulate different
phases of the cell cycle.

32. How does the first nucleotide at the 5’ end of a

new mRNA chain differ from the other
nucleotides in the chain?
a. The first nucleotide is always a uracil.
b. The first nucleotide is always a cytosine.
c. The first nucleotide retains its triphosphate
group, while the others do not.
d. The first nucleotide does not retain its
triphosphate group, while the others in the
chain do.
e. The first nucleotide is always a modified
cytosine.

33. A chromosome has the genes U, V, W, and X.

They have been shown to have the following
crossover frequencies: U and V: 2%; U and
W: 9%; U and X: 7%; V and W: 7%; V and X:
5%; and W and X: 2%. What is the sequence of
the genes on the chromosome?
a. W-X-V-U
b. U-X-V-W
c. X-W-U-V
d. V-U-W-X
e. none of the above

26 Biology 204
 34. Why does DNA synthesis only proceed in the 5’
to 3’ direction?
a. Because DNA polymerases can only add
nucleotides to the 3’ end of a polynucleotide
strand.
b. Because the 3’ end of the polynucleotide
molecule is more electronegative than the 5’
end.
c. Because that is the direction in which the two
strands of DNA unzip.
d. Because that is the only direction that the
polymerase can be oriented.
e. Because the chromosomes are always aligned
in the 5’ to 3’ direction in the nucleus.

35. Which of the following represents the sequence

of events during mitosis?
a. prophase → metaphase → anaphase →
telophase
b. interphase → metaphase → anaphase →
telophase
c. anaphase → telophase → metaphase →
interphase
d. interphase → prophase → anaphase →
metaphase
e. metaphase → telophase → anaphase →
prophase

Principles of Biology I 27
 36. Random segregation refers to
a. crossing over.
b. regulation of mitosis.
c. events during transduction.
d. Barr bodies.
e. paternal and maternal chromosomes.

37. Where is the amino-acid binding site located on

the tRNA molecule?
a. in the middle of the loop
b. at the 3’ end of the molecule
c. in the first loop
d. along the longest stretch of base pairing in the
molecule
e. at the 5’ end of the molecule

38. During mismatch repair of DNA, the repair

enzyme
a. will remove several nucleotides on both DNA
strands.
b. will remove several nucleotides on one DNA
strand.
c. will remove only the mismatched nucleotide.
d. will remove the mismatched nucleotide, and
the same enzyme will replace it with the
correct nucleotide.

28 Biology 204
 e. is unable to detect mutations.

39. Which of the following is TRUE regarding

alternative splicing?
a. It is very uncommon in humans.
b. One strand of DNA can produce different
mRNAs.
c. Introns are often absent.
d. As a result, the same proteins are produced in
different cell types.
e. All exons are used to produce m-RNA.

— End of Assignment 2B —

Principles of Biology I 29