“Opportunity” #5 Questions
Chapter 16
1. Who discovered the structure of DNA?
2. Describe the importance of Griffith’s transformation experiment.
3. What is a bacteriophage? How did these play a role in discovering
the function of DNA?
4. Describe the structure of DNA (include nucleotides, 5’end, 3’end,
complimentary bases, etc.)
5. Name the 2 purines and the 2 pyrimidines. Describe the differences
in their structures.
6. What are the base-pairing rules?
7. Describe the semi-conservative model of DNA replication. How is
this different from the 2 other models that were proposed concerning
replication?
8. What is a replication fork?
9. Describe how DNA replication occurs. Include all the enzymes that
are involved.
10. How is the leading strand different from the lagging strand in DNA
replication?
11. What is an Okazaki fragment? Why are they formed?
12. Describe the DNA “proofreading” process.
13. What is a telomere? Why are they necessary?
14. What is the purpose of telomerase?
Chapter 17
1. What does the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis state?
2. What is transcription? Describe how it occurs.
3. What is translation? How is it different from transcription?
4. What is a codon?
5. What is the start codon? The 3 stop codons?
6. What is a promoter? Where does it attach during transcription?
7. What factor lets RNA polymerase know where to end transcription?
8. What must happen to an mRNA strand before it leaves the nucleus?
9. How are introns different from exons?
10. Describe the process of splicing an mRNA transcript to remove
introns.
11. Define ribozyme.
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Describe the process of translation that occurs on a ribosome.
Explain the function of mRNA and tRNA in translation.
What is an anticodon?
Describe how the “wobble” factor can help prevent mutations.
What happens at the A site of a ribosome? P site? E site?
When does translation end?
What process ensures that polypeptides end up in the correct
location?
Describe the different types of RNA and their purpose in protein
synthesis.
Why is a base pair substitution less serious than an insertion or
deletion?
Define frame-shift mutation.
How is a missense mutation different from a nonsense mutation?
Define mutagen.
Chapter 18
1. What is an operon?
2. Define: operator, repressor, corepressor.
3. Explain how the trp operon works.
4. How is a repressible operon different from an inducible one? Give
an example of each.
5. Explain how the lac operon works.
6. If all cells within an organism have the same DNA, why don’t they
function identically?
7. How can chromatin structure be modified to change gene expression
in different cells?
8. Explain the ways that transcription initiation can be used to regulate
gene expression.
9. Discuss how gene expression can be regulated by RNA processing
after transcription occurs.
10. What are miRNA and siRNA? What effects do they have on
mRNA?
11. Describe how cell division, cell differentiation, and morphogenesis
contribute to the development of an organism from a zygote.
12. What role do cytoplasmic determinants play in the development of
an embryo?
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How does determination lead to differentiation?
What is an oncogene? a proto-oncogene?
How can normal genes become oncogenes?
Describe what ras does and what happens when there is a mutation.
What is p53? What happens when it doesn’t work properly?
Can cancer be inherited?
Chapter 19
1. What is a capsid?
2. Describe the 4 different shapes of viruses.
3. What is a host range?
4. Differentiate between the lytic and lysogenic cycles.
5. How is a virulent phage different from a temperate phage?
6. Name 3 viruses that have DNA and 3 viruses that have RNA.
7. Describe how a retrovirus is different from other viruses.
8. How does reverse transcriptase work?
9. Describe the steps involved in the reproduction of HIV.
10. How do vaccines work?
11. Name 3 emerging viruses that have impacted society in recent years.
12. How is an epidemic different from an pandemic?
13. What is a viroid? What type of organism do they infect?
14. What is a prion? Describe how they work.
Chapter 20
1. What is recombinant DNA?
2. Explain how a gene can be cloned using a bacterial plasmid.
3. What do restriction enzymes do?
4. How are “sticky ends” useful in the creation of recombinant DNA?
5. What is the purpose of DNA ligase?
6. Describe what a genomic library is.
7. How is a cDNA library different from a bacteria or phage genomic
library?
8. What is PCR? Describe how it works and why it is beneficial.
9. Explain the steps in gel electrophoresis.
10. What is Southern Blotting used for?
11. What are the methods for analyzing gene expression?
12. How do scientists determine gene functions?
13. Describe the process of whole-organism cloning. What problems
have been associated with these organisms.
14. What are stem cells? How can they be used in medicine?
15. Describe what RFLPs are. Why are they useful in genetic
technology?
16. How is DNA technology used in medical applications?
17. What pharmaceutical advances have been made due to DNA
technology?
18. How is genetic technology useful in forensics?
19. How is genetic engineering used in animals? plants?
Chapter 21
1. What is the Human Genome Project? What did it involve?
2. What are the three stages of mapping a genome?
3. How are genes sequenced using the whole-genome approach?
4. What are bioinformatics?
5. Explain what the BLAST software does.
6. How are genes studied at the systems level?
7. Describe how changes occur in species at the genomic level.
8. Explain the roles of duplication, rearrangement, and mutation in
genome evolution.