Department MIT of Biology
7.013: Introductory Biology - Spring 2005
Instructors: Professor Hazel Sive, Professor Tyler Jacks, Dr. Claudette Gardel
7.013 Practice Quiz 2 2004
1
Question 1
A. The primer shown below is used to sequence the following template DNA.
primer:
template DNA:
5'-ACCACTAACGTCAGT-3'
5'-ACTGAC-3'
Draw the resulting DNA fragments that would be produced from each of the 4 sequencing reactions at the
correct position (length in nucleotides) as they would appear on the diagram of the sequencing gel below.
DNA length
(nts)
15-
14-
13-
12-
11-
10-
9-
8-
7-
6-
5-
4-
3-
2-
1-
G
A
T
C
+
B.
Polio has been practically eliminated from the American population, however, in countries where people have
little or no access to vaccinations, it is still prevalent. As a biologist with a global vision, you seek to create
a transgenic banana that produces the protein used in the vaccine against polio. By consuming these
bananas, individuals will develop immunity against the disease. The gene for this protein has already been
cloned into a plasmid with a kanamycin-resistance gene (pKR-polio). You need to attach to the gene a
banana-specific promoter and DNA sequences that will allow the gene to be incorporated into banana DNA.
These sequences are contained in the pBAN plasmid, which carries a gene for ampicillin resistance. Maps of
these two plasmids are shown on the next page, including important restriction sites and distances (in base
pairs) between the sites.
2
Question 1 continued
Banana specific
promoter
BamHI
120
EcoRI
BglII
start codon
BamHI
gene for polio antigen
1120
ori
pKR-polio
4500 bp
pBAN
8900 bp
280
EcoRI
stop codon
BglII
R
kan gene
ampR gene
ori
banana insertion sequences
which allow DNA to integrate into
banana genome
BglII:
BamHI:
EcoRI:
5'...A G A T C T...3'
3'...T C T A G A...5'
5'...G G A T C C...3'
3'...C C T A G G...5'
5'...G A A T T C...3
3'...C T T A A G...5
a) An end generated by digestion with BamHI can be ligated to an end generated by digestion with BglII.
Why is this possible?
b) You want to insert the gene encoding the polio antigen into pBAN. Devise a strategy to accomplish this.
Identify the enzyme(s) you would use to cut pBAN, the enzyme(s) you would use to cut pKR-polio, and the
steps necessary to generate the intact plasmid.
c) You next transform E. coli with the plasmids you have made. You grow the transformed cells on media
containing (circle one):
ampicillin
both ampicillin and kanamycin
kanamycin
neither ampicillin nor kanamycin
Why?
3
Question 1 continued
You isolate plasmid DNA from three colonies that pass your antibiotic resistance test. You digest the DNA
with the restriction enzyme EcoRI. You size separate the resulting fragments from each plasmid on an
agarose gel. You find the following results. DNA fragment sizes are indicated to the left.
1
2
3
10 kb
9 kb
1.2 kb
.4 kb
d)
i) Draw plasmids associated with the colonies 1, 2, and 3. Indicate all relevant features such as the
promoter, the origin of replication, the genes for ampicillin resistance and the polio antigen,
ii) Which of the three plasmids would allow synthesis of the protein in a banana?
Explain your reasoning.
4
Question 2
Consider the following signal transduction pathway involved in smelling pumpkin pie.
1) A pie odorant molecule (), one of the many aromatic compounds present in pumpkin pie, binds
to a specific G protein-coupled olfactory receptor in an olfactory cell in your nose.
2) The receptor-odorant complex activates a G protein, which displaces GDP and then binds to a
molecule of GTP.
3) The subunit of the G protein dissociates and activates adenylate cyclase, which catalyzes the
production of cAMP from ATP.
4) cAMP binds to a sodium channel, opening it and allowing Na+ to enter the cell. This creates a
nerve stimulus, which travels to the brain. Your brain integrates the odorant signal with
signals from other olfactory receptors in your nose. The brain interprets the signal as the
odor of pumpkin pie. You think, Mmm...pie.
a) How does binding of the odorant molecule stimulate the receptor protein and how does this activate the G
protein?
b) Although it might be nice to have the sensation of smelling pie continuously, once the odorants are gone,
signaling stops. How is the signaling pathway turned off? Discuss why once the G protein is activated, it does
not continuously activate adenylate cyclase. What chemical reaction is involved in this process?
c) List two advantages to having multiple steps in a signal transduction pathway.
d) A turkey odorant molecule comes in contact with the odorant receptor. Would this
have an effect on the nerve stimulus being sent from this olfactory cell? Explain your answer.
5
Question 3
You are studying a family with hemophilia, a sex-linked recessive disease, caused by mutations in the Factor
VIII gene. The Factor VIII gene contains 35 exons. The complete sequence and exon/intron structure of
this gene are known. The start codon is in exon 3; the stop codon is in exon 34.
A partial restriction map and a diagram showing the location of exons 12, 13 and 14 is shown below. You
synthesize two PCR primers, which anneal to sequences located within exons 12 and 14, as shown.
Wild-type(normal) Allele:
HindIII EagI
HindIII
PstI
HindIII
180 bp 150 bp 100 bp
280 bp
exon 12
exon 13
exon 14
PCR primer #1
PCR primer #2
Using these PCR primers, you amplify DNA from a normal male and his hemophiliac brother. You determine
the restriction map for the PCR product from these two individuals, shown below:
PCR-amplified DNA fragment from normal male:
EagI
HindIII
HindIII
PstI
HindIII
20 bp
280 bp 180 bp 150 bp 100 bp 30 bp
PCR-amplified DNA fragment from hemophiliac brother:
HindIII
PstI
HindIII
20 bp
280 bp 100 bp 30 bp
Briefly describe the likely DNA alteration in the hemophiliac.
6
Question 4
You know in yeast that mitosis takes one hour. You decide to further study the cell cycle in yeast cells using radioactive
dTTP. Cells grown in radioactive dTTP incorporate this radioactive nucleotide into their DNA.
You label a population of asynchronously growing yeast cells by adding radioactive dTTP to the medium for one minute.
You then replace this medium with medium containing unlabelled dTTP and continue growing the cells. At one hour time
points following the replacement you count the number of radioactively labeled cells in mitosis. Your data is shown
below.
Number of labelled cells in mitosis
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Time (in hours) after addition of unlabelled medium
a) Cells are in which phase of the cell cycle when incorporating radioactive dTTP into their DNA? (Circle
one.)
G0 phase
G1 phase
G2 phase
M phase
S phase
Lunar phase
b) Estimate the length of the G2 phase from the graph. (Circle one.)
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
~11-12 hrs
~13-14 hrs
~20 hrs
~22 hrs
~11-12 hrs
~13-14 hrs
~20 hrs
~22 hrs
~11-12 hrs
~13-14 hrs
~20 hrs
~22 hrs
~13-14 hrs
~20 hrs
~22 hrs
c) Estimate the length of the S phase from the graph. (Circle one.)
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
d) Estimate the duration of the cell cycle. (Circle one)
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
e) Estimate the length of the G1 phase from the graph. (Circle one.)
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
~11-12 hrs
7
Question 5
A. As discussed in class, the activity of the transcription factor -catenin is important for forming dorsal
structures in the frog. Prior to fertilization, -catenin is synthesized throughout the egg cytoplasm but is
degraded by GSK-3. GSK-3 can itself be inhibited by the Dishevelled protein:
inhibits
degrades
Dishevelled -------------------| GSK-3 protein -------------------| -catenin
Upon fertilization, release of Dishevelled ultimately leads to -catenin activity in specific regions of the
frog zygote. From the graphs below, select the one that most closely approximates the distribution or
activity of the following proteins in the following conditions.
Graph
Protein and Conditions
The distribution of -catenin protein prior to fertilization
B
The distribution of GSK-3 protein prior to fertilization
The activity of -catenin prior to fertilization
The distribution of -catenin after fertilization
The distribution of GSK-3 after fertilization
The distribution of Dishevelled after fertilization
The activity of -catenin after fertilization
Distribution or Activity
0
Distribution or Activity
Distribution or Activity
The activity of GSK-3 after fertilization
Graph A
Graph B
0
Distance away from dorsal pole
Distance away from dorsal pole
Graph D
Graph C
0
0
Distance away from dorsal pole
Dorsal
Ventral
Distance away from dorsal pole
Dorsal
Ventral
8
B. When a zygote has reached the 8-cell stage, the egg yolk is concentrated in the vegetal pole. A region
called the gray crescent is also found near the vegetal pole and is required for gastrulation and
development:
Figure by MIT OCW.
a) In the above diagram, depict how you would divide the blastomere so that two fully functional embryos
could result.
b) If something like this were to occur naturally in a human blastula, would the result be identical or
fraternal twins? Circle one.
c) What is the difference between identical and fraternal twins?
Question 6
a) You have isolated a gene encoding a protein homologous to the yeast tyrosine kinase W. You suspect it
will be fantastically interesting and worthy of a PhD at the very least. The putative linear protein structure
is depicted below. Label the N and C termini.
Ligand
Binding
Domain
Signal
Sequence
Transmembrane
Domain
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
To assess the protein's localization, you generate a yeast strain in which Green Fluoresence Protein (GFP) is inserted in
frame to replace the binding domain. GFP fluoresces green under appropriate light, and can thus be seen in living protein cells.
This is diagramed below.
Signal
Sequence
b)
Green
Fluorescent
Protein
Domain
Transmembrane
Domain
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
i) In wildtype cells, where would you expect the GFP domain to ultimately localize? (Circle one.)
cytoplasm
inner side of vesicle
membrane
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of plasma
membrane
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside of
cell
(supernatent)
9
ii) In mutant cells lacking the secretion signal sequence, where would you expect the GFP domain to
ultimately localize? (Circle one.)
Transmembrane
Domain
Green
Fluorescent
Protein Domain
cytoplasm
inner side of vesicle
membrane
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of plasma
membrane
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside of
cell
(supernatent)
iii) In mutant cells lacking the transmembrane domain, where would you expect the GFP domain to ultimately
localize? (Circle one.)
Signal
Sequence
cytoplasm
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
Green
Fluorescent
Protein Domain
inner side of vesicle
membrane
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of plasma
membrane
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside of
cell
(supernatent)
iv) In mutant cells that are unable to fuse transport vesicles with the golgi membrane, where would you
expect the GFP to ultimately localize? (Circle one.)
Signal
Sequence
cytoplasm
Transmembrane
Domain
Green
Fluorescent
Protein Domain
inner side of vesicle
membrane
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of plasma
membrane
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside of
cell
(supernatent)
10
ANSWERS
Question 1
A.
primer:
5'-ACTGAC-3'
DNA length
(nts)
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
-
G
A
T
template DNA:
5'-ACCACTAACGTCAGT-3'
C
+
a) An end generated by digestion with BamHI can be ligated to an end generated by digestion with BglII.
Why is this possible?
Digestion with BglII or BamHI produce the same overhangs, or sticky ends. Thus the ends
produced by cutting with BglII are complementary to the ends produced with BamHI, base
pairing and ligation can occur.
b) You want to insert the gene encoding the polio antigen into pBAN. Devise a strategy to accomplish this.
Identify the enzyme(s) you would use to cut pBAN, the enzyme(s) you would use to cut pKR-polio, and the
steps necessary to generate the intact plasmid.
Cut pBAN with BamHI to linearize.
Cut pKR-polio with BglII, this gives a 1400 bp fragment containing the gene for the polio antigen and a 3100
bp fragment.
Size select the DNA from the pKR-polio plasmid to obtain the 1400 bp fragment.
Ligate the 1400 bp fragment together with the cut pBAN plasmid.
c) You next transform E. coli with the plasmids you have made. You grow the transformed cells on media
containing (circle one):
ampicillin
kanamycin
both ampicillin and kanamycin
neither ampicillin nor kanamycin
Why? The media should contain ampicillin only, because the plasmid with the promoter and banana insertion
sequences has a gene for ampicillin resistance.
d) i) Draw plasmids 1, 2, and 3, indicating all relevant features such as the promoter, the origin of replication, the genes
for ampicillin resistance and the polio antigen, restriction sites and distances (in base pairs) between the sites.
11
Banana specific
promoter
Banana specific
promoter
BamHI/BglII
stop codon
EcoRI
BamHI/BglII
start codon
BamHI
280
polio antigen gene
polio antigen gene
1120
1120
plasmid 1
120
BamHI
start codon
BamHI/BglII
EcoRI
plasmid 2
280
120
EcoRI
stop codon
BamHI/BglII
EcoRI
R
amp gene
R
amp gene
ori
ori
Banana specific
promoter
BamHI
120
EcoRI
plasmid 3
pBAN
R
amp gene
B.
ori
ii) Which of the three plasmids would allow synthesis of the protein in a banana? Explain yor reasoning.
Only plasmid two would allow synthesis of functional protein.
The polio antigen gene must be correctly oriented with respect to the promoter.
Question 2
a) How does binding of the odorant molecule stimulate the receptor protein and how does this activate the G
protein?
The binding of a odorant molecule to the extracellular domain of the receptor changes the
conformation of the protein. This allows the intracellular domain of the receptor to bind the G
protein heterotrimer. This binding induces the subunit to exchange GDP for GTP, activating the
subunit and releasing it from the subunit.
b) Although it might be nice to have the sensation of smelling pie continuously, once the odorants are gone,
signaling stops. How is the signaling pathway turned off? Discuss why once the G protein is activated, it does
not continuously activate adenylate cyclase. What chemical reaction is involved in this process?
The subunit of the G protein has an intrinsic GTPase activity. This activity converts GTP bound to
the subunit to GDP. Since the GTP is required for the subunit to be active, the conversion of
GTP to GDP deactivates the subunit of the G protein. The inactive subunit then can rejoin the
subunit to await another signal from the receptor.
c) List two advantages to having multiple steps in a signal transduction pathway.
Multiple steps in the pathway can provide a large amplification of the signal. It also allows multiple points of
regulation. In addition, if several different receptors work through the same transduction pathway,
integration of different inputs is possible.
d) A turkey odorant molecule comes in contact with the odorant receptor. Would this have an effect on the
nerve stimulus being sent from this olfactory cell? Explain your answer.
12
No, a turkey odorant molecule would have no effect on the stimulus from this cell. The odorant
receptor specifically recognizes the odorant. However, the turkey odorant molecule would affect
olfactory cells specialized for turkey.
Question 3
There is a deletion of 330 bp in the DNA, including exon 13 and possibly part of exon 14, which
also removes a Hind III site and an EagI site
Question 4
a) Cells are in which phase of the cell cycle when incorporating radioactive dTTP into their DNA? (Circle
one.) 3 points
G0 phase
G1 phase
G2 phase
M phase
S phase
Lunar phase
b) Estimate the length of the G2 phase from the graph. (Circle one.) 3 points
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
~11-12
hrs
~13-14
hrs
~20 hrs
~22 hrs
c) Estimate the length of the S phase from the graph. (Circle one.) 3 points
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
~13-14
hrs
~11-12 hrs
~20 hrs
~22 hrs
d) Estimate the duration of the cell cycle. (Circle one.) 3 points
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
~11-12
hrs
~13-14
hrs
~20 hrs
~22 hrs
e) Estimate the length of the G1 phase from the graph. (Circle one.) 3 points
Cant be
determined
0 hrs
~2-3 hrs
~6-7 hrs
~9-10
~11-12hrs
~13-14
hrs
~20
hrs
~22 hrs
13
Question 5
A
Graph
Protein and Conditions
B
The distribution of -catenin protein prior to fertilization
A
The distribution of GSK-3 protein prior to fertilization
B
The activity of -catenin prior to fertilization
D
The distribution of -catenin after fertilization
A
The distribution of GSK-3 after fertilization
D
The distribution of Dishevelled after fertilization
D
The activity of -catenin after fertilization
C
The activity of GSK-3 after fertilization
B. When a frog embryo has reached the 8-cell stage, the egg yolk is concentrated in the vegetal pole. A
region called the gray crescent is also found near the vegetal pole and is required for gastrulation and
development:
Figure by MIT OCW.
a) In the above diagram, depict how you would divide the blastomere so that two fully functional embryos
could result. 3 points
b) If something like this were to occur naturally in a human blastula, would the result be identical or
fraternal twins? Circle one.
c) What is the difference between identical and fraternal twins?
Identical twins have the same DNA, while fraternal twins are from separate eggs/sperm and
should have different DNA (like siblings).
14
Question 6
a) To assess the protein's localization, you generate a yeast strain in which Green Fluoresence Protein (GFP) is inserted in
frame to replace the binding domain. GFP fluoresces green under appropriate light, and can thus be seen in living cells. This
protein is diagramed below. Label the N and C termini
N
C
Green
Fluorescent
Protein
Domain
Signal
Sequence
b)
Transmembrane
Domain
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
i) In wildtype cells, where would you expect the GFP domain to ultimately localize? (Circle one.)
cytoplasm
inner side of
vesicle membrane
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of
plasma membrane
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside
of cell
(supernatent)
ii) In mutant cells lacking the secretion signal sequence, where would you expect the GFP domain to ultimately localize? (Circle
one.)
Transmembrane
Domain
Green
Fluorescent
Protein Domain
cytoplasm
inner side of
vesicle membrane
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of
plasma membrane
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside
of cell
(supernatent)
iii) In mutant cells lacking the transmembrane domain, where would you expect the GFP domain to ultimately localize? (Circle
one.)
Signal
Sequence
cytoplasm
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
Green
Fluorescent
Protein Domain
inner side of
vesicle membrane
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of
plasma membrane
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside
of cell
(supernatent)
iv) In mutant cells that are unable to fuse transport vesicles with the golgi membrane, where would you expect the GFP to
ultimately localize? (Circle one.)
Signal
Sequence
cytoplasm
Green
Fluorescent
Protein Domain
inner side of
vesicle membrane
Transmembrane
Domain
outer side of
vesicle membrane
inner side of
plasma membrane
Tyrosine
Kinase
Domain
outer side of
plasma membrane
completely
secreted outside
of cell
(supernatent)
15