Biotechnology First Semester Review
Format: You and a partner will participate in an
outbreak scenario in which you will be given some
information and have to answer questions based on
what you have learned this semester. At times you
will be able to use particular resources such as the
Internet. There are 2 parts to the exam…the first
part is small group and the second part is individual.
Your goal is to determine what the “orange” disease
is and understand the complexities of an outbreak
situation.
What should you know?
1. Calorimetry…science of; purpose; and basic
math
a. Change in temp. x Change in mass x specific
heat = calories
b. Answer from a above / change in mass =
calories/g
c. % error = Experimental cal/g – Actual cal/g
/Actual cal/g x 100%
d. Resources: Burning Foods Lab
2. Indicators…can use to detect types of foods in a
mixture or sample
a. Benedict’s tests for simple
monosaccharides (sugars like glucose); blue
to orange
b. Iodine tests for complex polysaccharides
(sugars like starch); golden to black
c. Brown Bag tests for hydrophobic fats;
grease stain
d. Biuret tests for proteins; aqua to lavender
e. Resources: Macromolecules and Indicators
Lab
3. Steroids
a. Complex fats based off of cholesterol and
testosterone
b. Testosterone based steroids can be
dangerous!
c. Resources: playdoh macromolecules lab;
USADA Lab; Doping to Win video; Glogster
projects
4. DNA Extraction
a. Extract with soap and salt
b. Clean with protease or meat tenderizer
c. Precipitate with alcohol…DNA floats in
alcohol layer
d. Resources: DNA Extraction Lab
5. DNA structure and function
a. Made from DNA nucleotides (deoxyribose
sugar, phosphate and a base)
b. Bases are A, G, T, and C
c. A pairs with T; G pairs with C
d. Double stranded
e. Serves as the hereditary information
f. Replicated through a process called DNA
Replication
g. Resources: playdoh macromolecules lab;
Secrets of Life video; on-line DNA
Replication tutorials
6. RNA structure and function
a. Made from RNA nucleotides (ribose sugar,
phosphate and a base)
b. Bases are A, G, U, and C
c. A pairs with U; G pairs with C
d. Single stranded
e. Can act as an enzyme
f. Transcription = DNA gene is converted into
mRNA; location=nucleus
g. Translation = mRNA converted into amino
acid sequence; location = ribosome
h. Transcription + Translation = Protein
Synthesis
i. Resources: playdoh macromolecules lab;
Secrets of Life video; on-line Protein
Synthesis tutorials
7. Secrets of the Rainforest
a. How to transform bacteria to grow GFP and
how to isolate GFP (use of plasmids and
antibiotic resistance)
b. Why does the FDA require testing of
potential pharmaceuticals?
c. Cancer: What is it?, What causes it?, How is
the mitosis and the cell cycle related to
cancer?; What are stem cells and how are
they related to cancer?; How is it treated?
d. Resources: GFP Lab; Mitosis drawings from
cellsalive.com; insidecancer.org and Divide
and Conquer A-Z packet; Stem cells
webquest; Scavenger Hunt webquest; 6th
Day Video; Biotech Video projects
8. Pathogens
a. Types of microbes and general
characteristics (structure, shapes, etc…)
b. How do bacteria replicate (reproduce)?
How do virus’ replicate (reproduce)?
c. What are Koch’s postulates?
d. How do you grow bacteria? What is a gram
stain and what does it tell you?
e. If in an outbreak scenario, what would the
public need to do?
f. Resources: Bacterial Inquiry Lab; Pathogens
PowerPoint; Microbes Webquest
(microbeworld.org); Microbiology handout