Which of the following choices is NOT a correct description of a reporter gene?

Question 29 options:

As a general principle of gene regulation through operons, regulatory genes encode _____________.

Question 28 options:

A common amino acid motif found in many of the polypeptides that function as repressors is ______________.

Question 27 options:

How do negative regulators such as the lac repressor prevent RNA polymerase from initiating transcription?

Question 26 options:

The critical step in the regulation of most bacterial genes occurs _____________.

Question 25 options:

1. In order to produce three glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate molecules that the plant could use to make other organic molecules, how many CO₂ molecules would have to enter the Calvin Cycle?

   		3
   		6
   		9
   		12

2. Genes A and B are on the same chromosome. If a person has one chromosome with the alleles AB and a second chromosome with the alleles ab, how could they produce a gamete with a chromosome containing the alleles Ab or aB?

   		independent assortment
   		random fertilization
   		crossing over
   		mitosis

3. There are several changes that occur to pre-mRNA in eukaryotic cells to produce the final mRNA molecule that will be used in translation. This process is called RNA processing. Which of the following occurs in the process of producing this final mRNA molecule?

   		a poly-A tail is added to the 5’ end
   		a modified guanine nucleotide is added to the 3’ end
   		the introns are cut out and the exons are attached to each other
   		none of the above

4. A mutation in a gene in the fruit fly Drosophila was found to affect eye color. The protein affected was found to be completely normal in its molecular weight and amino acid sequence, although much less of the protein is made in mutant flies. The most likely reason for the change in levels of protein is that the mutation:

   		occurs in the promoter of the gene, within several hundred base pairs of the start of transcription
   		is a change of a codon for serine into another codon for serine
   		is a frame shift mutation near the start of the coding region
   		affects the splicing of the mRNA

Please read carefully the following case study and provide a suitable answer to its questions.

A male baby born after a normal pregnancy appeared to be healthy until after the third day after his birth. He became lethargic, hypnotic (low muscle tone), his breathing was shallow and lead to apnea. First, he was hooked up to a mechanical respirator. A blood sample was taken to the lab and found that his plasma ammonia level was 474 µmol/L.

As a healthcare provider, you have put the baby under peritoneal dialysis until results of plasma amino acid levels and urine organic acid tests are ordered. The baby went into a deep coma.

The lab tests revealed the following;

Based on the above lab result;

1. What is your diagnosis of this case? Provide a suitable reason to your answer along with the specific reaction (equation) of urea cycle on which you are referring to on your answer.

2. Why the patient has high blood level of glutamine?

3. Why the patient has high plasma level of NAG?

4. How can you treat this condition and save the baby from a life-threatening coma?

5. What type of condition is this? (Congenital or Acquired)

1. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inherited disorder in which a mutation in a single autosomal gene leads to inability to break down the amino acid called phenylalanine. Babies born with PKU often have the following symptoms: a musty odor to the skin, hair, and urine; vomiting and diarrhea; irritability; itchy skin, and sensitivity to light. If this condition goes untreated, it can lead to the loss of skills, growth and developmental delays and seizures. The term that best fits with this description of PKU is:

2.

PKU is inherited as an autosomal recessive disorder. Bob and Jan are healthy. Bob is not a carrier of this disorder, but Jan is a carrier of the PKU allele (She is heterozygous.). If they have a child, what is the probability that this child will show the disorder PKU (have the phenotype for PKU)?

3.

PKU is inherited as an autosomal recessive disorder. Bob and Jan are healthy. Bob is not a carrier of this disorder, but Jan is a carrier of the PKU allele (She is heterozygous.). If they have a child, what is the probability that this child will show the disorder PKU (have the phenotype for PKU)?

4. Huntington disease is inherited as an autosomal dominant disorder with adult onset. Sally has Huntingon disease (She is a heterozygote for this gene). Her partner John does not have Huntington. Suppose Sally and John have 3 children. What is the probability that NONE of their children inherit Huntington Disease?

1. You identify a mutation in roses for the red pigment molecule; the pigment molecule is encoded by the gene RED.

The mutation you identified creates a much smaller, non-functional protein. You know the RED gene is haplosufficient.  

Is the mutation a loss-of-function or gain-of-function?

Is a heterozygote for the RED mutation (one wild type allele, one mutant allele) likely to look wildtype in phenotype (red colour) or have a mutant

phenotype (not red)? Explain your answer.

2. In a population of sneetches there are three body shapes: diamond, triangular and skinny. Body shape is controlled by two genes.

You breed a true-breeding diamond sneetch to a true-breeding triangular sneetch and all the offspring are diamond shaped.  

You then intercross the diamond F₁ and out of 64 offspring: 36 are diamond, 24 are triangular and 4 are skinny shaped. What best explains the inheritance pattern of sneetch shape? Explain your answer.

3.

A female cat heterozygous for genes A, B and C mates with a male cat homozygous recessive for all three genes.  Genes A and B are on the same chromosome and are 10 map units apart while gene C is on a different chromosome from A and B.  What is the probability of offspring that are homozygous recessive at all three genes (the cross is shown below)? Show your work (either by typing in an explanation/calculations or by attaching an image of your work.

AB/ab; C/c       X          ab/ab; c/c

4.

In the Deep Sea Kraken tentacle colour is determined by the presence of two pigment molecules. The pigment molecule/tentacle colour is normally controlled in the tentacle cells as follows:

• Precursor pigment molecule 1 is a colourless molecule. It is normally converted by Enzyme 1 into a blue pigment molecule.
• Precursor pigment molecule 2 is a colourless molecule. It is normally converted by Enzyme 2 into a yellow pigment molecule.   
• If both blue and yellow pigment molecules are present in the tentacle, the tentacle appears green.

A. One true-breeding Kraken line  (line A) has a mutation in the core promoter of the gene for precursor molecule 1 (mutated allele -> p^1A).  The mutation prevents transcription.  Presuming everything else about the line is normal what colour would you predict the Crake eyes to be in this line (line A)?  Explain your answer.

B. Another true-breeding Kraken line (line B) has a mutation in the gene for enzyme 2 (mutated allele -> e^2B). The mutation prevents conversion of the precursor molecule into the yellow pigment (only the colourless precursor is present).  If you crossed line A (from the question above) with line B what colour(s) would you find amongst the offsprings's eyes? Explain your answer.

5.

You are a dragon breeder and have discovered that some of your dragons have a rare disorder that causes them to suffer progressive neurodegeneration leading to an early death. Unfortunately the disorder does not become apparent until after they have reached reproductive age.  This means that some of your healthy looking dragons may soon succumb to the neurodegenerative disease. It also means that “healthy” is not a good criteria to use when setting up future breeding because dragons who are “healthy” upon reaching breeding age may still develop the disease later.

Luckily there is a microsatellite marker that is located very close (on the chromosome) to the gene that when mutated causes the neurodegenerative disease. Below is the pedigree and microsatellite typing for one dragon family.  As the neurodegenerative disease allele is extremely rare you can assume anyone outside the family does not have the disease allele.

You have affected information for generation I and II (symbol filled in = affected = neurodegenerative disease) however the individuals in generation III are too young to show the condition (regardless of whether they have the affected genotype). Letters on the pedigree refer to the microsatellite alleles shown in the gel on the upper right. The chromosome region is also shown for your information.

A . What is the most likely inheritance pattern of the neurodegenerative disease? Explain your answer.

B . You type generation III for the microsatellite alleles A, B, C and D and find that III-1 inherited microsatellite allele B from her mother.  Given the inheritance pattern, and distance between the microsatellite allele and the gene of interest, what is the likelihood III-1 will have the neurodegenerative disease? For full marks you must show your work or explain your answer.

To show your work you may type in a description or attach an image.

1.  A country’s production function depends on labor (L), physical capital (K), human capital (H), and natural resources (N).  When L = 200, K = 10, H = 30, and N = 4, output is 80.  What would output be if L = 700, K = 35, H = 105, and N = 14?

A.  30                       B.  60                       C.  240                    D.  280                    E.  320

F.  More than one of A-E is possible                           G.  None of A-G is possible                                                ______

2.  A nation’s real GDP is 2,000,000 and its GDP deflator is 125.  What is its nominal GDP?

A.  1,600,000                                                            B.  1,999,875                        

C.  2,000,000                                                            D.  2,000,125

E.  2,500,000                                                            F.  250,000,000                                                                                          ______

3.  Lockheed Martin is an engineering company based in Maryland that builds military planes.  If the price of F-16 jets produced by Lockheed Martin increases, then US CPI is likely to ____ and US GDP deflator is likely to _____.

A.  Rise; Rise                                                             B.  Rise; Fall

C.  Fall; Rise                                                              D.  Fall; Fall

E.  Rise; Stay the same                                       F.  Fall; Stay the same

G.  Stay the same; Rise                                      H.  Stay the same; Fall   

A double-blind randomised experiment investigated whether consumption of oligofructose would stimulate calcium absorption in healthy human males aged 14 to 16 years. Two sets of pills were prepared, identical in appearance and packaging. One set contained oligofructose and the other set contained ordinary sucrose (i.e., a placebo). The experiment ran in two rounds, with the second round starting 3 weeks after the first ended. Subjects were randomly assigned to either receive oligofructose in the first round and the placebo in the second, or the placebo in the first round and oligofructose in the second. In each round, subjects took pills for nine days and had their calcium absorption measured on the last day. Calcium absorption was measured as a percentage of calcium intake.

Formally test whether oligofructose stimulates calcium absorption in healthy males aged 14 to 16 years. You do not need to revisit the decision made in part (a), but your report should be consistent with that decision, and should include all relevant elements of a hypothesis test. Assume α = .05.

A Peruvian human sacrificial temple, near Lima, Peru, has three
levels, levels J, M, and H, where tourists have the only access to
the temple.
The probabilities that a tourist visiting the temple will visit the
different levels are:
Visit level J: 0.74
Visit level M: 0.70
Visit level H: 0.62
Visit levels J and M: 0.52
Visit levels J and H: 0.46
Visit levels M and H: 0.44
Visit levels J and M and H: 0.34.
Find the probabilities that a person visiting the temple will:
A. Visit level M given that he will go to level J.
B. Visit level H given that he will go to level J and level M.
C. Not visit level J given that he will visit level M and/or visit
level H.
D. Visit level H and visit level J given that he will not visit level
M.