Download BIOL 303 Cell Biology Test preparation questionnaire # 1

BIOL 303 Cell Biology
Test preparation questionnaire # 1
Dr. Mauricio Bustos
Nothing can prepare you better for a future career in Science than being able to see the important
questions, and to find suitable answers to those questions. The purpose of this questionnaire is to
help you prepare for Exam #1 by focusing your attention on some of the concepts and ideas that
will be covered in class. The list is not meant to be comprehensive. As a matter of fact, you are
encouraged to pose questions of your own and to find the corresponding answers. The double
exercise of Q&A will increase your awareness of the most critical information presented in class
and in the textbook, and facilitate the development of your critical reasoning.
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Living cells produce order out of chaos by managing what two physical quantities?
What types of energy are relevant to the activities of a cell?
Name the molecule that best fits the description of "a currency for chemical energy in a cell".
Why are nucleoside triphosphates considered high energy compounds?
What are the two main sources of ATP in the living world?
How is information stored in living cells?
What geometric shape best describes the 3D structure of the molecule of DNA?
Name the four bases in DNA.
How are protein sequences encoded in DNA?
How are protein sequences encoded in RNA?
List the main elements of a typical eukaryotic gene.
What other important information is encoded in DNA besides protein amino acid sequences?
What distinguishes the two main types of cells.
List some unique features of prokaryotic cells.
List some unique features of eukaryotic cells.
What are some of the main differences between plant and animal cells?
Plant cells do not contain lysosomes. TRUE or FALSE?
Animal cells gave up surrounding themselves with a protective cell wall in exchange for the ability to alter their
shape and move relative to one another. TRUE or FALSE?
19. What do you understand about the relationship between functional specialization and cellular differentiation?
20. Cite examples of cellular differentiation among the prokaryotes.
21. Cite examples of cellular differentiation among the eukaryotes.
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What is the nature of the covalent chemical bond? Why do atoms bond to each other to form molecules?
List different kinds of non-covalent bonds.
List the main properties of water that are critical for supporting life.
What is the difference between an acid and a base?
What is the standard pH value of pure water?
What is the product of the concentrations of hydroxyl ions and protons equal to?
Why is pH so critical to the activity of biological molecules?
What are the atomic numbers and electronic structures of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen?
What geometric shape approximates the structure of a carbon atom?
Can you name seven chemical groups found commonly on biochemicals?
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Name the four main families of biochemicals.
What is the general formula for sugars (carbohydrates)?
What important physiological roles do sugar polymers play?
Hexoses such as glucose and fructose are essential to living organisms. What is their structure like?
What are the main sources of diversity of sugar polymers?
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Lipids play essential roles depending on their structure. Do you know what structures tryacylglicerides have?
What is the importance of saturated versus unsaturated fatty acids in lipids and lipid membranes?
What is the structure of the main lipid components of biological membranes?
What does the term amphoteric mean?
How many different types of amino acid side chains are there?
List some of the main characteristics of proteins.
How do protein alpha helices differ from beta sheets?
How many types of nucleic acids do you know? How do their structures differ?
Name the purine bases found in DNA and RNA.
Name the pyrimidine bases found in DNA and RNA.
What is Watson-Crick base pairing?
Why is base pairing important for the information carrying functions of DNA and RNA?
How do you explain that simple polymers such as DNA and RNA can assume stable and complex 3D
structures?
50. List some of the principal functions of cellular metabolism.
51. What does the second law of thermodynamics say about entropy?
52. What thermodynamic function provides a measure of the amount of energy that is available to produce physicochemical work?
53. What happens to the energy that is not available to produce work?
1. How does the sign and magnitude of the ∆G for a reaction indicate whether it can occur spontaneously?
55. By what means can cells carry out chemical transformations that are thrmodynamically unfavorable?
56. Can enzymes change the ∆G for a reaction and thus make an unfavorable reaction happen?
57. What reaction parameters are altered by enzyme catalysts?
58. What mechanisms do enzymes use to speed up chemical reactions?
59. Define a metabolic pathway.
60. What are the main categories of metabolic pathways?
61. Explain the progression of forms that a carbon atom can adopt having highest to lowest energy.
62. Would you expect to find the same ranking if the oxygen content of Earth's atmosphere were much lower than it
is today?
63. Explain what happens during a redox reaction.
64. How does the direction of a redox reaction relate to the position that the main atoms involved in the reaction
occupy on the periodic table of the elements?
65. Is there any advantage to oxidizing glucose in small steps as opposed to all at once, such as occurs when
glucose is burned in a calorimeter.
66. How do cells trap and distribute the energy resulting from glucose oxidation?
67. Explain glycolysis.
68. What two high energy compounds are made during glycolysis?
69. What is the biochemical residue of glycolysis?
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What is a lipid bilayer and who proposed it first as a model for biological membranes?
How can artificial lipid bilayers be made in the laboratory?
How well do the properties of artificial lipid bilayers match those of natural biological membranes?
Describe the chemical structure of a phosphoglyceride.
What are the other two main lipid components of cellular membranes besides phosphoglycerides?
What non-lipidic compounds are normally found in cellular membranes?
How are membrane proteins classified?
Describe the fluid mosaic model for membrane architecture.
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What physical state best describes a lipid bilayer?
Why is membrane fluidity important for its function?
What physical parameters determines the state of the membrane?
How can cells adapt to temperature changes to maintain membrane fluidity within acceptable levels?
Describe two techniques used to measure the diffusion rates of single molecules on membranes.
How do solutes cross the lipid bilayer?
What drives solute movement across lipid membranes?
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Using the potassium ion channel as an example, explain the main properties of ion channels in general.
What technique allows measuring the conductance of single channels?
Explain the difference between a channel and a transporter.
How many different types of transporters do you know?
What molecular machines can transport ions against the electrochemical gradient?
Describe the transport cycle of a Na+/K+ pump.
Explain the distinction between primary and secondary active transport.
What are the different classes of ion-coupled transporters found on the PM of eukaryotic cells?
93. What molecules represent the lowest and highest electron energy levels in the cycle of energetic conversions
that take place within aerobic organisms?
94. What are the main photosynthetic organisms living on Earth?
95. How many moles of photons of red light would contain the same amount of energy that is released by the
complete oxidation of one mole of glucose to water and carbon dioxide?
96. Describe the main photosynthetic pigments of higher plants.
97. Describe the organelle in which photosynthesis takes place. Do cyanobacteria contain this organelle?
98. What do we understand by the Z-scheme of photosynthesis?
99. What is the name of the main reaction center of Photosystem II?
100. How does the chloroplast replace the electrons ejected from the reaction center after light absorption?
101. What is the main electron donor for photosynthesis in cyanobacteria and plants?
102. What is the main electron acceptor of photosynthesis?
103. Name the enzyme that carries out the last of the light reactions of photosynthesis.
104. Describe the series of steps that transfer electrons from the donor to the acceptor molecule.
105. How is the electromagnetic energy from light transduced into the chemical energy contained in the molecule of
ATP?
106. What is the name of the enzyme that phosphorylates ADP into ATP?
107. Describe the loop that constitutes the direct photophosphorylation cycle found in plant chloroplasts.
108. Where do the reactions of the Calvin-Benson cycle take place?
109. Name the main intermediate in the dark reactions of photosynthesis.
110. What procedure was used to determine the fate of the carbon atom from CO2 in photosynthesis.
111. What pathway of anaerobic metabolism is capable of maintaining the level of cellular NAD+?
112. What is the name and structure of the organelle where aerobic respiration takes place?
113. Describe the biochemical reaction that connects glycolysis to the TCA cycle.
114. Name and describe the three classes of integral proteins found in the inner mitochondrial membrane.
115. How are proteins destined for the mitochondrion distinguished from other proteins in the cytosol?
116. Which common property of the signal peptides of many mitochondrial proteins drives their translocation across
the mitochondrial double membrane system?
117. What role does the proton gradient play in mitochondrial protein transport?
118. By what mechanism is the chemical energy released during the TCA cycle converted into ATP?
119. What are the principal steps of aerobic respiration?
120. What are the main tenets of the chemio-osmotic theory of oxidative phosphorylation?
121. Describe the structure of mitochondrial ATPase.
122. How would you characterize the cytochrome c oxidase?
123. What is the main by-product of oxidative phosphorylation?
124. Why would a silicon-based biochemistry be incompatible with life under the conditions found on Earth?
125. What conditions would better support a silicon-based life?
126. What term in the formula for the Gibbs free energy of a reaction makes it difficult for life to exist at
increasingly higher temperatures?
127. Why is it that Earth-type life cannot exist at temperatures much higher than 100 degrees C?
128. Biological evolution appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics by seemingly producing life forms of
increasing complexity. What have you learned so far that resolves this paradox in scientific terms?
129. Complex metabolism and life are not guaranteed by the fact that both are thermodynamically possible. What
other principle(s) or empirical law(s) would you postulate to compel their existence?