DAY 1 Review
Biochemistry
What You Must Know:
1. The three subatomic particles and their significance
2. The types of chemical bonds and how they form
3. The importance of hydrogen bonding to the properties of water
4. The properties of water and how each contributes to life on Earth
5. How to interpret a pH scale
6. How changes in pH can alter biological systems
7. The importance of buffers in biological systems
8. The properties of carbon that make it so important
9. The role of dehydration and hydrolysis reactions with organic compounds
10. How the sequence and subcomponents of the 4 groups of organic compounds determine their
properties
11. The cellular functions of carbs, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids
12. How changes in these organic molecules would affect their function
13. The 4 structural levels of proteins and how changes at any level can affect the activity of the protein
14. How proteins reach their final shape (conformation), the denaturing impact that heat and pH can have
on protein structure, and how these changes may affect the organism
15. Directionality influences structure and function of polymers, such as nucleic acids (5’ and 3’ ends) and
proteins (amino and carboxyl ends
Cells
What You Must Know:
1. Basic differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
2. Key ways in which prokaryotes differ fro eukaryotes with respect to genome, membrane-bound
organelles, size and reproduction.
3. How mechanisms of transformation, conjugation and transduction contribute to genetic diversity in
prokaryotes
4. The structure and function of organelles common to plant and animal cells
5. The structure and function of organelles found only in plant cells or only in animal cells
6. How different cell types show differences in subcellular components
7. How internal membranes and organelles contribute to cell functions
8. How cell size and shape affect the overall rate of nutrient intake and waste elimination
9. Be able to calculate surface area to volume ratios for various cell sizes and predict relative rates of
diffusion into/out of the cell
10. How do additional structures enhance material exchange across a membrane
11. Consider cell features that may be abundant/absent in certain cells based on their functions
12. Be able to predict and justify how a change in an organelle would affect the function of that cell or
organism
13. Why membranes are selectively permeable
14. The role of phospholipids, proteins and carbohydrates in membranes
15. How water will move if a cell is placed in an isotonic, hypertonic or hypotonic solution and predict the
effect on the organism
16. How electrochemical gradients and proton gradients are formed and function in cells
17. The role of water potential in predicting movement of water in plants
18. How the transpiration cohesion-tension mechanism explains water movements in plants
DAY 2 Review
Cell Communication
What You Must Know:
1. The three stages of cell communication: reception, transduction and response
2. How a receptor protein recognizes signal molecules and starts transduction
3. How a cell signal is amplified by a phosphorylation cascade
4. An example of a second messenger and its role in a signal transduction pathway
5. How a cell response in the nucleus turns on genes, whereas in the cytoplasm it activates
enzymes
6. What apoptosis means and why it is important to normal functioning of multicellular organisms
7. Be able to describe a model that expresses the key elements of a signal transduction pathway
leading to a cellular response: G-protein receptors, tyrosine kinase receptors and ligand gated
ion channels
8. Describe examples of cell communication from the nervous and endocrine systems
9. Mechanisms by which plant cells communicate with other distant cells
Cell Cycle
What You Must Know:
1. The structure of a duplicated chromosome
2. The events that occur in the cell cycle (G1, S and G2)
3. The role of cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases in the regulation of the cell cycle
4. Ways in which the normal cell cycle is disrupted to cause cancer, or halted in certain
specialized cells
5. The features of mitosis that result in the production of genetically identical daughter cells
including replication, alignment of chromosomes (metaphase), and separation of
chromosomes (anaphase)
6. Describe the key characteristics of normal cell division: density-dependent inhibition and
anchorage dependency
7. Compare the process of meiosis with mitosis
8. Describe the change in chromosomal number through the cell, the purpose of each process
and starting material and product for each
Day 3 Review
Metabolism and Enzymes
What You Must Know:
1. Examples of endergonic and exergonic reactions
2. The key role of ATP in energy coupling
3. That enzymes work by lowering the energy of activation
4. The catalytic cycle of an enzyme that results in the production of a final product
5. Factors that change enzyme shape and how they influence enzyme activity
6. How the shape of enzymes, their active sites, and interaction with specific molecules affect
their function
7. How feedback inhibition is used to maintain appropriate levels of enzymes in a pathway
8. Know why certain factors such as pH and temperature affect enzyme function
9. Describe examples of how homeostasis is maintained through molecular concentrations by
triggering feedback mechanisms
Cellular Respiration and Fermentation
What You Must Know:
1. The summary equation of cellular respiration including the source and fate of the reactants and
products
2. The difference between fermentation and cellular respiration
3. The role of glycolysis in oxidizing glucose to two molecules of pyruvate
4. How pyruvate is moved from the cytosol into the mitochondria and introduced into the citric
acid cycle
5. How electrons from NADH and FADH2 are passed to a series of electron acceptors to produce
ATP by chemiosmosis
6. The roles of the mitochondrial membrane, proton (H+) gradient, and ATP synthase in
generating ATP
7. The difference between substrate-level phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation
Photosynthesis
What You Must Know:
1. The summary equation of photosynthesis including the source and fate of the reactants and
products
2. How leaf and chloroplast anatomy relate to photosynthesis
3. How photosystems convert solar energy to chemical energy
4. How linear electron flow in the light reactions results in formation ATP, NADPH, and O2
5. How the formation of a proton gradient in the light reactions is used to form ATP from ADP +
inorganic phosphate by ATP synthase
6. How the Calvin cycle uses the energy molecules of the light reactions (ATP and NADPH) to
produce carbohydrates (G3P) from CO2
7. Predict how changes in the pathways would affect the output of ATP in the light reaction
8. Compare the process of chemiosmosis in the mitochondrion and the chloroplast
9. Explain how the H+ gradient is established in both processes and describe the orientation of
the ATP synthase molecules
Day 4 Review
Mendelian Genetics
What You Must Know:
1. The differences between asexual and sexual reproduction
2. Advantages of asexual vs. sexual reproduction
3. The role of meiosis and fertilization in sexually reproducing organisms
4. The importance of homologous chromosomes to meiosis
5. How the chromosome number is reduced from diploid to haploid in meiosis
6. Three events that occur in meiosis but not mitosis
7. The importance of crossing over, independent assortment, and random fertilization to
increasing genetic variability
8. Know when a cell goes from diploid to haploid
9. Terms associated with genetics problems: P, F1, F2, dominant, recessive, homozygous,
heterozygous, phenotype and genotype
10. How to derive the proper gametes when working a genetics problem
11. The difference between an allele and a gene
12. How to read a pedigree
13. How to use data sets to determine Mendelian patterns of inheritance
14. Know when to use rule of addition and multiplication in genetics
15. How the chromosome theory of inheritance connects the physical movement of chromosomes
in meiosis to Mendel’s laws of inheritance
16. The unique pattern of inheritance in sex-linked genes
17. How alteration of chromosome number or structurally altered chromosomes (deletions,
duplications, etc.) can cause genetic disorders
18. How genomic imprinting and inheritance of mitochondrial DNA are exception to standard
Mendelian inheritance
19. Predict a null hypothesis and calculate a Chi-Square analysis
Day 5 Review
Molecular Genetics
What You Must Know:
1. The structure of DNA
2. The knowledge about DNA gained from the work of Griffith; Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty;
Hershey and Chase; Wilkins and Franklin; and Watson and Crick
3. Replication is semiconservative and occurs 5’ to 3’
4. The roles of DNA polymerase, ligase, helicase and topoisomerase in replication
5. The general differences between bacterial chromosomes and eukaryotic chromosomes
6. How DNA packaging can affect gene expression
7. How RNA and DNA are similar and different, and how this defines their roles
8. The differences between replication, transcription, and translation and the role of DNA and
RNA in each process
9. How eukaryotic cells modify RNA after transcription
10. How genetic material is translated into polypeptides
11. How mutations can change the amino acid sequence of a protein and be able to predict how a
mutation can result in changes in gene expression
12. Genes can be activated by inducer molecules, or they can be inhibited by the presence of a
repressor as they interact with regulatory proteins or sequences
13. A regulatory gene is a sequence of DNA that codes for a regulatory protein such as a
repressor protein
14. How the components of an operon function to regulate gene expression in both repressible
and inducible operons
15. How positive and negative control function in gene expression
16. The impact of DNA methylation and histone acetylation on gene expression
17. How timing and coordination of specific events are regulation in normal development, including
pattern formation and induction
18. The role of microRNA’s in control of cellular functions
19. The role of gene regulation in embryonic development and cancer
20. The components of a virus
21. The differences between lytic and lysogenic cycles
22. How viruses can introduce genetic variation into host organisms
23. Mechanisms that introduce genetic variation into viral populations
24. The terminology of biotechnology
25. How plasmids are used in bacterial transformation to clone genes
26. The key ideas that make PCR possible and applications of this technology
27. How gel electrophoresis can be used to separate DNA fragments or protein molecules
28. Information that can be determined from DNA gel results, such as fragment sizes and RFLP
analysis
29. Discuss ethical implications of some applications of biotechnology
30. How prokaryotic genomes compare to eukaryotic genomes
31. Applications of bioinformatics to medicine, evolution and health
32. The activity and role of transposable elements and retrotransposons in generating genetic
diversity
33. The role of homeotic genes and homeoboxes in developmental patterns and sequences
Day 6 Review
Evolution
What You Must Know:
1. How Lamark’s view of the mechanism of evolution differed from Darwin’s
2. Several examples of evidence for evolution and how they each support how organisms have
changed over time: direct observations, homology, fossils and biogeography
3. The difference between structures that are homologous and those that are analogous, and
how this relates to evolution
4. The role of adaptations, variation, time, reproductive success, and heritability in evolution
5. How mutation and sexual reproduction each produce genetic variation
6. The conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
7. How to use the Hardy-Weinberg equation to calculate allele frequencies to test whether a
population is evolving
8. What effects genetic drift, migration or selection may have on a population and analyze data to
justify your predictions
9. The biological concept of species
10. Prezygotic and postzygotic barriers that maintain reproductive isolation in natural populations
11. A description of similar species that are maintained separate by each type of isolating barrier
12. How allopatric and sympatric speciation are similar and different
13. How a change in chromosome number can lead to sympatric speciation
14. Why speciation rates are often rapid in situations when adaptive radiation occurs or during
time of ecological stress
15. The connection between a change in gene frequency, a change in the environment, natural
selection or genetic drift and speciation
16. How punctuated equilibrium and gradualism describe two different tempos of speciation
17. A scientific hypothesis about the origin of life on Earth
18. The age of the Earth and when prokaryotic and eukaryotic life emerged
19. Characteristics of the early planet and its atmosphere
20. How Miller and Urey tested the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis and what they learned
21. Methods used to date fossils and rocks and how fossil evidence contributes to our
understanding of changes in life on Earth
22. Evidence for endosymbiosis
23. How continental drift can explain the current distribution of species (biogeography)
24. How extinction events open habitats that may result in adaptive radiation
25. The taxonomic categories and how they indicate relatedness
26. How to construct a phylogenetic tree that represents processes of biological evolution
27. Using data to construct a cladogram and use cladograms to infer relatedness
Day 7 Review
Physiology
What You Must Know:
1. The importance of homeostasis and examples (especially endocrine examples)
2. How feedback systems control homeostasis
3. One example of positive feedback and one example of negative feedback
4. How are nutrients reduced to molecules that can cross into the circulatory system
5. How is the respiratory surface structure related to function
6. Several elements of an innate immune response
7. The differences between B and T cells relative to their activation and action
8. How antigens are recognized by immune system cells
9. The differences in humoral and cell-mediated immunity
10. Why helper T cells are central to immune responses
11. Relate immune response to cell communication
12. Programmed cell death plays a role in normal development and differentiation
(morphogenesis)
13. Cell differentiation results from the expression of genes for tissue-specific proteins and the
induction of transcription factors
14. Interactions between external stimuli and regulated gene expression result in specialization of
cells, tissues and organs
15. The anatomy of a neuron
16. The role of active transport in establishing the membrane potential of a neuron
17. How long-distance and short-distance signaling is done in neurons
18. The mechanisms of impulse transmission in a neuron
19. The process that leads to release of neurotransmitter, and what happens at the synapse
20. The brain serves as a master neurological center for processing information and directing
responses
21. Different regions of the brain have different functions
22. Structures and associated functions for animal brains are products of evolution, and increasing
complexity follows evolutionary lines
23. How the vertebrate brain integrates information, which leads to an appropriate response
24. Different sensory receptors respond to various types of input
25. Neurons communicate with muscle fibers to stimulate contraction
26. Interaction of cellular organelles leads to muscle contraction
27. Roots, stems and leaves interact in essential plant life functions
28. How plants respond to attacks by herbivores and pathogens
Day 8 Review
Animal Behavior
What You Must Know:
1. How behaviors are the result of natural selection
2. How innate and learned behaviors increase survival and reproductive fitness
3. How organisms use communication to increase fitness
4. The role of altruism and inclusive fitness in kin selection
5. Timing and coordination of reproduction may be triggered by environmental cues as well as
pheromones
6. How phototropism and photoperiodism use changes in the environment to modify plant growth
and behavior
7. How temperature and moisture determine seed germination
8. The role of auxins in plants
Ecology
What You Must Know:
1. The role of abiotic factors in the formation of biomes
2. How biotic and abiotic factors affect the distribution of biomes
3. How changes in these factors may alter ecosystems
4. The difference between a fundamental niche and a realized niche
5. The role of competitive exclusion in interspecific competition
6. The symbiotic relationships of parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism
7. The impact of keystone species on community structure
8. The difference between primary and secondary succession
9. How density, dispersion and demographics can describe a population
10. The differences between exponential and logistic models of population growth
11. How density-dependent and density-independent factors can control population growth
12. How a change in matter or energy will affect the population or community
13. The effect of age distributions and fecundity on human populations as presented in agestructure pyramids
14. How do human and global natural events impact ecosystem distribution
15. How energy flows through an ecosystem by understanding the terms in bold that relate to food
chains and food webs
16. The difference between grow primary productivity and net primary productivity
17. The carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycles
18. How biogeochemical cycles impact individual organisms and/or populations and ecosystems
19. Predict the effects of a change of matter or energy availability in an ecosystem
20. Be able to use a representation to illustrate the movement of matter or energy through an
ecosystem
21. The value of biodiversity and the major human threats to it
22. How human actions are changing the Earth
23. How to predict consequences on both local and global ecosystems of specific human activities