Biochemistry: Questions
Biochemistry: Questions
Biochemistry: Questions
Biochemistry
Questions
MOLECULAR
1. Which histone is not part of the nucleosome? (p 34) _____________________________________
2. What is DNA called when it is condensed and transcriptionally inactive? (p 34) ________________
4. What effect does greater G-C content have on the melting temperature of DNA? (p 35) ___________
______________________________________________________________________________
7. A 12-year-old boy with moderate intellectual disability visits his physician because of a painful and
swollen left big toe. During the examination, the boy makes several uncontrolled spastic muscle
movements. When he was 3 years old, he was referred to a pediatric dentist for severe repetitive
biting of his lip and tongue. He also has a history of being aggressive towards family members and
classmates. What is the most likely diagnosis? (p 37) ___________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8. What enzyme “proofreads” DNA synthesis with its exonuclease activity in prokaryotic DNA
replication? In which direction does this enzyme remove nucleotides? (p 38) _________________
______________________________________________________________________________
9. What enzyme degrades the RNA primer and replaces it with DNA during prokaryotic DNA
replication? (p 38) ________________________________________________________________
11. Silent mutations often result from changes in which position of a codon? (p 39) ________________
12. What kind of mutation denotes a DNA change that results in the misreading of all nucleotides
downstream from it? (p 39) _________________________________________________________
13. What specific DNA repair mechanism is defective in xeroderma pigmentosum? (p 40) __________
______________________________________________________________________________
14. In single-stranded DNA repair, how are nucleotide excision repair and base excision repair different?
(p 40) _________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
15. Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer results from the loss of which DNA repair mechanism?
(p 40) _________________________________________________________________________
16. What commonly results from a mutation within a promoter? (p 41) _________________________
17. What type of RNA is the largest? The smallest? The most rampant? (p 42) _________________
______________________________________________________________________________
18. What poisonous protein that inhibits RNA polymerase II is found in death cap mushrooms? (p 42)
______________________________________________________________________________
23. Explain the three steps of the elongation phase of protein synthesis. (p 45) __________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
24. What is the category of proteins like HSP60, which facilitates and/or maintains protein folding?
(p 45) _________________________________________________________________________
CELLULAR
25. Fill in the boxes on the following diagram, noting the phases of the mitotic cell cycle. (p 46)
26. Which transition in the cell cycle is prevented by Rb and p53 tumor suppressors? (p 46) ________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____ C. Never go to G0 and divide rapidly with a short G1 3. Stable (quiescent) cells
28. Name two cells that are rich in rough endoplasmic reticulum. (p 46) ________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
29. Name two cells that are rich in smooth endoplasmic reticulum. (p 46) _______________________
______________________________________________________________________________
30. A child presents with coarse facial features, clouded corneas, restricted joint movement, and high
plasma levels of lysosomal enzymes. What is the most likely diagnosis? (p 47) ________________
31. Which molecular motor protein is used for anterograde transport along microtubules? (p 48) _____
______________________________________________________________________________
34. Cilia, flagella, mitotic spindle, axonal trafficking, and centrioles are examples of which cytoskeletal
element? (p 48) _________________________________________________________________
35. Vimentin, desmin, cytokeratin, lamins, glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP), and neurofilaments are
examples of which type of cytoskeletal element? (p 48) __________________________________
36. A 22-year-old woman presents with a history of recurrent sinusitis. X-ray of the chest shows
dextrocardia. What is the most likely diagnosis? (p 49) __________________________________
37. What effect does digoxin’s inhibition of Na+-K+ ATPase have on cardiac contractility? (p 49) _____
______________________________________________________________________________
39. British sailors in the 17th century were often unable to hydroxylate proline and lysine residues for
collagen synthesis, and drank lime juice to treat the condition. What disease did they have, and why
did the treatment work? (p 50) ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
40. What disease leads to an inability to form procollagen and the triple helix alpha chain? (p 50) ____
______________________________________________________________________________
41. A baby is born with multiple fractures and hearing loss. What finding would most likely be seen during
the ophthalmologic examination? (p 51) _______________________________________________
42. A patient presents with hyperextensible skin, easy bruising, and hypermobile joints. What is the most
likely diagnosis? (p 51) ____________________________________________________________
43. Which enzyme involved in collagen synthesis will have decreased activity in a patient who has a
mutation that impairs copper absorption and transport? (p 51) _____________________________
45. Which lung disorder can result from unopposed elastase activity? (p 52) _____________________
LABORATORY TECHNIQUES
46. Which reaction uses reverse transcription to create a complementary DNA template that is amplified
via the standard PCR procedure? (p 52) _______________________________________________
47. Which endonuclease can be used with a guide RNA sequence to edit genomes? (p 53) _________
______________________________________________________________________________
48. Describe each of the following blot techniques: Southern, Northern, and Western (p 53)
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
49. Which laboratory technique can assess size, granularity, and immunophenotype of individual cells in
a sample? (p 54) _________________________________________________________________
50. Which assay can measure the expression level of thousands of genes simultaneously? (p 54) ____
_______________________________________________________________________________
51. What is the advantage of a Western blot over an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)?
(p 54) _________________________________________________________________________
52. What is the advantage of fluorescence in situ hybridization over karyotyping? (p 55) ____________
______________________________________________________________________________
53. What is the most direct lab technique for detecting autosomal trisomies? (p 55) _______________
______________________________________________________________________________
GENETICS
54. What does a mutant genotype that causes a disease phenotype in some individuals but not in others
exhibit? (p 56) ___________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
56. A genetic disease that shows _______________________________ may have mutations at one of
several different loci that produce a similar phenotype. (p 57)
57. In terms of p and q, what is the frequency of heterozygosity in a population that is in Hardy-Weinberg
58. What is the difference between lyonization and mosaicism? (pp 57, 61) _____________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
59. How is Prader-Willi syndrome inherited? What are the symptoms? (p 58) ____________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
60. How is Angelman syndrome inherited? What are the symptoms? (p 58) _____________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
61. Which mode of inheritance is represented by each of the following pedigrees? (p 59)
_____ D. _____ E.
1. Autosomal dominant
2. Autosomal recessive
3. Mitochondrial inheritance
4. X-linked dominant
5. X-linked recessive
62. What percentage of sons of a carrier mother is expected to inherit an X-linked recessive disease?
(p 59) _________________________________________________________________________
63. True or False: A mother with an X-linked dominant disease may pass the disease to her sons but
not to her daughters. (p 59) ________________________________________________________
64. Are most of the mucopolysaccharidoses and sphingolipidoses autosomal recessive or autosomal
dominant? What are the exceptions? (p 60) ___________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
65. Cystic fibrosis results from a defect in which gene? Which chromosome? Which ion channel?
(p 60) _________________________________________________________________________
66. Which drug(s) can be used to loosen mucus plugs in patients with cystic fibrosis? (p 60) ________
______________________________________________________________________________
67. A patient with cystic fibrosis has an increased risk of a deficiency of which vitamins? (p 60)
______________________________________________________________________________
68. What is the genetic etiology of myotonic type 1 muscular dystrophy? (p 61) __________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
69. A 4-year-old boy needs to use his upper extremities to push against his legs in order to stand up.
What maneuver is he using? (p 61) _________________________________________________
70. A 2-year-old girl presents with seizures, regression in verbal and cognitive abilities, and hand-
wringing movements, and is diagnosed with a disease caused by a mutation on the X chromosome.
What is this disease, and what is the associated gene? (p 62) _____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
71. A male patient has a long face, a large jaw, large ears, autism, and macroorchidism. What is the
most likely diagnosis? (p 62) _______________________________________________________
72. Before his anticipated death, a 42-year-old man had received many years of treatment for
depression, severe cognitive decline, and involuntary writhing movements. His father had similar
symptoms shortly before his death. What is the cause of this patient’s most likely disease?
(pp 62, 64) ______________________________________________________________________
73. A newborn is diagnosed with Down syndrome. She is vomiting bilious material. What is the most
likely cause? (p 63) _______________________________________________________________
74. The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are on which chromosome(s)? (p 64) _______________________
______________________________________________________________________________
NUTRITION
75. Match each set of symptoms/conditions with the vitamin that is deficient. (pp 66-71)
_____ A. Bruising, anemia, swollen gums, and poor wound healing 1. Vitamin A
76. Which vitamin or mineral is a cofactor for many enzymes, and has dysgeusia as a symptom of its
deficiency? (p 71) ________________________________________________________________
77. What is the primary feature of kwashiorkor that distinguishes it from marasmus? (p 71) _________
______________________________________________________________________________
78. Does ethanol metabolism by hepatocytes produce or consume NADH? (p 72) ________________
______________________________________________________________________________
METABOLISM
79. Match each of the following processes with its rate-determining enzyme. (p 73)
80. In the following diagram, fill in the rectangles with the intermediates and products. Which steps of
glycolysis are reversible? (Add one- or two-sided arrows to the squares.) (p 74)
Glucose
Fructose-6-P
Citrate
Isocitrate
Glyceraldehyde-3-P Fumarate
Succinate
3-phosphoglycerate
2-phosphoglycerate
Pyruvate
PDH
81. How many ATP molecules can be created by the aerobic and anaerobic metabolism of glucose?
(p 74) _________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
82. The α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex require the
same five cofactors; what are these cofactors? (p 77) ____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
84. What are Heinz bodies? What are bite cells? (p 79) _____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
85. Fill in the boxes on the image below, noting the substrates of the urea cycle. (p 82)
86. A two-day-old male infant is irritable and lethargic. Serum studies show increased orotic acid and
hyperammonemia, with a normal hematocrit and MCV. What is the most likely diagnosis? (p 83)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
87. Fill in the boxes in the following chart, noting the enzymes that catalyze each step of catecholamine
synthesis. (p 83)
______________________________________________________________________________
89. A 16-year-old boy presents for a routine visit. Physical examination shows symptoms consistent with
Fabry disease. What is the inheritance pattern of this disease? (p 88) _______________________
______________________________________________________________________________
90. Using the list below, name the deficient enzyme and accumulated substrate(s) for each lysosomal
storage disease listed in the chart below. (Some answers may be used more than once.) (p 88)
Accumulated
Disease Deficient Enzyme
Substrate
Fabry disease
Gaucher disease
Hunter syndrome
Hurler syndrome
Krabbe disease
Metachromatic
leukodystrophy
Niemann-Pick disease
Tay-Sachs disease
91. Which cell type(s) cannot use ketones as an energy source? Why? (p 91) ___________________
______________________________________________________________________________
93. Which apolipoprotein binds to the LDL receptor? On which lipoproteins is it found? (p 93)
______________________________________________________________________________
96. A 6-month-old infant presents with failure to thrive. Steatorrhea is noted, and blood tests show
deficiencies in vitamins A, D, E, and K. The parents mention that changing from breast milk to low-
fat formula “seemed to help.” Immunohistochemical analysis shows decreased staining of ApoB-48
on intestinal biopsy and decreased staining of ApoB-100 on liver biopsy. What is the pathophysiology
of the most likely disorder? What deficiencies would you expect a serum lipid panel to reveal? (p 94)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Answers
MOLECULAR
1. H1.
2. Heterochromatin.
5. Ribonucleotide reductase.
7. This child has Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, which is characterized by intellectual disability, self-
mutilation, aggression, hyperuricemia, gout, and dystonia. It is caused by the absence of HGPRT,
which leads to a defective purine salvage pathway.
8. DNA polymerase III, which proofreads in the 3' to 5' direction using an exonuclease.
9. DNA polymerase I.
10. Fluoroquinolones.
12. Frameshift.
14. During nucleotide excision repair, the entire nucleotide structure, containing the damaged bases, is
removed and replaced. During base excision repair, only the base is clipped off and repaired without
the entire backbone of the DNA being taken apart.
17. mRNA is the largest type, tRNA is the smallest, and rRNA is the most rampant type of RNA.
21. Alternative splicing. (In this case, the alternative splicing creates the mutation in β-thalassemia.)
23. (1) Aminoacyl-tRNA binds to the A site. (2) rRNA (“ribozyme”) catalyzes peptide bond formation,
transfers growing polypeptide to the amino acid in A site. (3) The ribosome advances three
nucleotides toward the 3′ end of mRNA, thereby moving the peptidyl tRNA to the P site
(translocation).
CELLULAR
25.
26. Progression from G1 to S phase. (P53 and Rb prevent defective cells from undergoing DNA
synthesis.)
28. Goblet cells of the small intestine (secrete mucus) and plasma cells (secrete antibodies).
29. Liver hepatocytes and steroid hormone–producing cells of the adrenal cortex and gonads.
31. Kinesin.
32. Griseofulvin.
33. Mebendazole.
34. Microtubules.
39. Scurvy; the limes provided the sailors with the vitamin C they were deficient in.
44. Fibrillin.
45. Emphysema. (α1-Antitrypsin deficiency results in unopposed elastase, which degrades elastin;
therefore, lack of α1-antitrypsin can lead to loss of elastin in the lungs, thereby resulting in
emphysema.)
LABORATORY TECHNIQUES
46. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
48. Southern: DNA sample is enzymatically cleaned into smaller pieces, which are separated on a gel
by electrophoresis and transferred to a filter; the filter is exposed to a radiolabeled DNA probe; the
resulting double-stranded, labeled piece of DNA is visualized when the filter is exposed to film.
Western: Sample protein is separated via gel electrophoresis and transferred to a membrane; labeled
antibody is used to bind to relevant protein.
50. Microarrays.
52. FISH allows for identification of chromosomal anomalies at the molecular level, including
microdeletions that are too small to see on a karyotype.
53. Karyotyping.
GENETICS
54. Incomplete penetrance.
55. If a patient inherits or develops a mutation in a tumor suppressor gene, the complementary
allele must be deleted/mutated before cancer develops. This is not true of oncogenes.
57. 2pq.
58. In lyonization (X-inactivation), one copy of female X chromosome forms a transcriptionally inactive
Barr body. In mosaicism, genetically distinct cell lines are present in the same individual.
59. Prader-Willi syndrome is inherited via a mutation or deletion of the paternal copies of chromosome
15 or can occur due to maternal uniparental disomy. Symptoms include intellectual disability,
hyperphagia, obesity, hypogonadism, and hypotonia.
60. Angelman syndrome is inherited via a mutation or deletion of the UBE3A gene on the maternal copy
of chromosome 15 or can occur due to paternal uniparental disomy. Symptoms include intellectual
disability, seizures, ataxia, and inappropriate laughter.
62. 50%.
64. Most of the mucopolysaccharidoses (except Hunter syndrome) and sphingolipidoses (except Fabry
disease) are autosomal recessive. Both Hunter syndrome and Fabry disease are X-linked recessive
disorders.
65. Cystic fibrosis is due to a defect in the CFTR gene on chromosome 7 that affects the chloride
channel.
66. Albuterol, aerosolized dornase alfa (DNase), and hypertonic saline solution.
68. A trinucleotide repeat of the sequence CTG in the DMPK gene, which has an autosomal dominant
inheritance pattern.
69. Gowers sign. (This action is necessary due to weakness of the proximal muscles.)
70. Rett syndrome, which is caused by de novo mutation of the gene MECP2.
71. Fragile X syndrome. Remember: Fragile X = eXtra large testes, jaw, and ears.
72. The patient has classic symptoms of Huntington disease, which is caused by an expansion of CAG
trinucleotide repeats on chromosome 4.
NUTRITION
75. A-10, B-3, C-6, D-7, E-5, F-4, G-12, H-13, I-11, J-8, K-9, L-1, M-2.
76. Zinc.
77. Edema.
78. Ethanol metabolism converts NAD+ into NADH and the high NADH: NAD+ ratio causes many of
the symptoms of chronic alcohol abuse.
METABOLISM
79. A-10, B-7, C-3, D-4, E-1, F-9, G-13, H-5, I-8, J-6, K-11, L-12, M-2.
80.
Glucose
Glucose-6-P
Fructose-6-P
Citrate
Oxaloacetate
Fructose-1,6-BP
Isocitrate
Malate
Succinate Succinyl-CoA
1,3-BPG
3-phosphoglycerate
2-phosphoglycerate
PEP
Pyruvate
PDH
Acetyl-CoA
81. Aerobic metabolism of one glucose molecule produces 32 net ATP via malate-aspartate shuttle in
heart and liver and 30 net ATP via glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle in muscle. Anaerobic glucose
metabolism produces only 2 net ATP molecules per molecule of glucose.
82. Vitamins B1, B2, B3, and B5, and lipoic acid.
84. Heinz bodies are denatured globin chains of hemoglobin that precipitate into clumps within RBCs
due to oxidative stress. Bite cells result from the phagocytic removal of Heinz bodies by splenic
macrophages. Think, “Bite into some Heinz ketchup.”
85.
86. Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. (Orotic aciduria often presents with megaloblastic anemia.)
87.
88. Treatment for propionic acidemia is a low protein diet that does not include isoleucine, methionine,
threonine, or valine.
90.
Accumulated
Disease Deficient Enzyme
Substance(s)
glucocerebrosidase
Gaucher disease Glucocerebroside
(β glucosidase)
Heparan sulfate,
Hunter syndrome Iduronate-2-sulfatase
dermatan sulfate
Heparan sulfate,
Hurler syndrome α-L-iduronidase
dermatan sulfate
Galactocerebroside,
Krabbe disease Galactocerebrosidase
psychosine
Metachromatic
Arylsulfatase A Cerebroside sulfate
leukodystrophy
96. The most likely disorder is abetalipoproteinemia, which is usually caused by a deficiency of the
products of the ApoB gene. Because patients, from birth, have difficulty making chylomicrons, they
will have severe deficiencies in fat absorption, along with all fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, K, and E).
Additionally, affected patients cannot make normal VLDL particles, which decrease IDL and LDL
levels. Later manifestations of abetalipoproteinemia include retinitis pigmentosa and spinocerebellar
degeneration (caused by low vitamin E). This may present as progressive ataxia. Acanthocytosis is
also present on blood smear.