Exam IV (FINAL) Review – some helpful hints
The closed-book exam will consist of true/false, matching, fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice questions
which draw from your knowledge, intelligence and creativity. Know the material below and you will be
in great shape for the upcoming exam!
---Understand the following terms/concepts: conjugation, transformation, transduction, transfection, F
factor, plasmid, prophage, episome, Hfr, F+, F-, F’.
Understand the lytic and lysogenic cycles of phage lambda (in general; not the specific molecular
genetics).
The lac and trp operons (be able to interpret from a figure showing the operon).
What two regulatory proteins control the genetic switch for the infection pathways of phage lambda?
What accomplishes trp gene regulation by attenuation?
What is a constitutive gene (defined – not a specific example)?
What is a zinc finger, leucine zipper, helix-turn-helix motif?
How do steroid hormones act (at the cellular molecular level)?
Know what RNA silencing involves (in general, what is RNAi; what 2 molecules execute it)?
What are enhancers, promoters, activators (in general, with regard to eukaryotic transcription)?
What happens when you remove the 5' G-cap of mRNA transcripts in eukaryotes?
What are general mechanisms of mRNA regulation (can be achieved at the level of)?
What is heterochromatin and euchromatin? What are these forms associated with?
Do transcriptionally active genes show lower levels of DNA methylation compared with transcriptionally
inactive genes?
What do Spliceosomes do?
Is imprinting implicated in Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes.
What is a CDK, Cyclin, Oncogene, Proto-oncogene, tumor suppressor?
What class of virus causes Rous sarcoma, AIDS, Feline leukemia?
Can mutations occur in germ-line cells with sporadic (nonhereditary) cancers?
What is cancer best defined as?
What can cause cancer (may arise as a result of)?
Malignant breast, colon, and lung cancers typically have…
What is a melanoma? What can cause it?
What is a neoplasia?
Is cancer hereditary?
What is apoptosis?
What can inhibit cell proliferation in culture?
Do some carcinogens act on the genome directly? Are others are converted to mutagenic substances by
the cells's enzymes?
Are the only genes necessary for the retroviral lifecycle gag and pol?
What is an Operon?
What are the molecular events of familial Down syndrome resulting from Robertsonian translocation?
Understand genetic drift; what are examples of…
What is the result of genetic drift?
What causes sex determination in the fruit fly?
Are longer poly(A) tails on mRNAs associated with less translational activity?
What is a v-onc gene? Where would you expect to find them?
What is haploid, diploid, aneuploid, polyploidy?
Understand (the assumptions and know the formula) and apply the Hardy-Weinberg model.
What is a cline?
What is a mutation (in general)? What effect does it have on genetic variation in a population?
What does a selection coefficient of 1 mean?
Concept Driven Questions
Transcriptional Start codon  AUG
Translational Stop codons  UGA, UAG, UAA
Tough Questions: 11, 12, 14, 15, 20, 23, 25