BIOL 1009 topic 16 molecular basis of inheritance

In an analysis of the nucleotide composition of DNA, which of the following will be found?

A + C = G + T

What is meant by the description "antiparallel" regarding the strands that make up DNA?

The 5' to 3' direction of one strand runs counter to the 5' to 3' direction of the other strand.

According to the "semi-conservative" model of DNA replication,

after DNA replication occurs, each of the two double-stranded DNA molecules will consist of one "daughter" and one "parental" DNA strand

The elongation of the leading strand during DNA synthesis

depends on the action of DNA polymerase.

According to the "semi-conservative" model of DNA replication, after a double-stranded DNA molecule is replicated

each of the two resulting double-stranded DNA molecules will consist of one "daughter" and one "parental" DNA strand

Which of the following enzymes covalently connects segments of DNA?

ligase

Histones are

part of nucleosomes

Cytosine makes up 38% of the nucleotides in a sample of DNA from an organism. Approximately what percentage of the nucleotides in this sample will be thymine?

12

An Okazaki fragment has which of the following arrangements?

5' RNA nucleotides, DNA nucleotides 3'

What would be the sequence of the DNA molecule made by replication of the DNA molecule shown below?5' TTCCGGA 3'

5' TCCGGAA 3'

Which of the following shows the correct base pairing of deoxyribonucleotides that occurs in nature?

A with T G pairs with CA pairs with TU is found in RNA, not DNA

Why do our chromosomes become shorter as we age?

Because DNA polymerases can only add nucleotides to an existing nucleotide chain, an RNA primer is used to initiate DNA synthesis. Once that RNA primer is removed from the end of a linear chromosome, there is no mechanism to completely fill in the missing nucleotides at the end of a linear chromosome.

Which of the following enzymes removes the RNA nucleotides from the primer and adds equivalent DNA nucleotides to the 3' end of DNA fragments resulting from DNA replication of one of the two DNA strands?

DNA polymerase I

A new DNA strand elongates only in the 5' to 3' direction because

DNA polymerase can only add nucleotides to the free 3' end.

Why are primases necessary in order for DNA replication to occur?

DNA polymerases can not initiate synthesis of new nucleotide chains

E. coli cells grown on 15N medium are transferred to 14N medium and allowed to grow for two more generations (two rounds of DNA replication). DNA extracted from these cells is centrifuged. Which of the samples shown in the figure below shows the density distribution of DNA you would expect in this experiment?

E

Will the chromosomes you pass onto your children be shorter than your chromosomes?

Hopefully not, because telomerase will restore the telomeres in your germline cells (the cells that produce egg or sperm cells) to approximately their original length.

How do some scientists feel that telomerase might be used to slow the aging process?

If telomerase activity was increased in our cells, the rate at which our chromosomes shorten as we age might be decreased.

Which of the following statements describes the eukaryotic chromosome?

It consists of a single linear molecule of double-stranded DNA plus proteins.

What is the role of DNA ligase during DNA replication?

It joins DNA fragments together.

What is "chromatin"?

The combination of DNA and proteins that forms chromosomes

Which of the following would you expect of a eukaryote lacking telomerase?

a reduction in chromosome length in gametes

A chromosome is

a single long DNA molecule plus the proteins with which that DNA molecule is complexed

If an organism uses the "conservative" model of DNA replication, rather than the normal "semi-conservative" model of DNA replication,

after DNA replication occurs, one of the two double-stranded DNA molecules will consist of two "daughter" DNA strands and the other will consist of two "parental" DNA strands

The formation of hydrogen bonds between complementary nucleotides is known as

base pairing

The reaction used to join together nucleotides to form a nucleotide chain is known as a

dehydration reaction

In a nucleosome, the DNA is wrapped around

histones.

In a double-stranded DNA molecule, the two DNA strands base pair in such a way that the 5' end of one DNA strand base pairs with the 3' end of the other DNA strand. The two DNA strands are said to be

in an antiparallel arrangement

You briefly expose bacteria undergoing DNA replication to radioactively labeled nucleotides. When you centrifuge the DNA isolated from the bacteria, the DNA separates into two classes. One class of labeled DNA includes very large molecules (thousands or even millions of nucleotides long), and the other includes short stretches of DNA (several hundred to a few thousand nucleotides in length). These two classes of DNA probably represent

leading strands and Okazaki fragments.

Which of the following represents the order of increasingly higher levels of organization of chromatin?

nucleosome, 30-nm chromatin fiber, looped domain

The covalent linkages joining together nucleotides in a DNA molecule are known as

phosphodiester linkages

Which of the following enzymes initiates the synthesis of a new nucleotide chain during DNA replication?

primase

Which of the following enzymes synthesizes short segments of RNA?

primase

The leading and the lagging strands differ in that

the leading strand is synthesized in the same direction as the movement of the replication fork, and the lagging strand is synthesized in the opposite direction.

Which of the following statements regarding primases is TRUE?

-Primases add nucleotides to the 3' end of a nucleotide or nucleotide chain -Primases catalyze the formation of an RNA molecule -Primases can initiate synthesis of a new nucleotide chain

Cytosine makes up 42% of the nucleotides in a sample of DNA from an organism. Approximately what percentage of the nucleotides in this sample will be thymine?

8% Remember that C and G base pair and that A and T base pair. So, if the DNA sample is 42% cytosine, it must also be 42% guanine, because base pairing of cytosine and guanine requires that they be present in equal concentration. That means that 16% (100% - 42% - 42%) of the DNA sample must consist of A and T. Because A and T base pair with each other, they need to be present in equal amounts. So, the DNA sample must have 8% adenine and 8% thymine.

The process by which DNA molecules are copied so that when cells divide each cell can have a complete copy of the DNA is known as

DNA replication

What happens to the short RNA "primers" that primase synthesizes and that are extended by DNA polymerase III during DNA replication?

In E. coli, DNA polymerase I removes the RNA primers and fills in the resulting gaps with deoxyribonucleotides

Which of the following shows the correct base pairing of ribonucleotides that occurs in nature?

U with A

The two strands of a double-stranded DNA molecule are held together by

hydrogen bonds between complementary nitrogenous bases

The DNA molecule is able to carry a vast amount of hereditary information in which of the following?

sequence of bases

The ends of linear chromosomes are known as

telomeres

The difference between ATP and the nucleoside triphosphates used during DNA synthesis is that

the nucleoside triphosphates have the sugar deoxyribose; ATP has the sugar ribose.

How do the nucleotides used to make RNA molecules differ from those used to make DNA molecules?

the nucleotides used to make RNA molecules have ribose instead of deoxyribose as their sugar and uracil instead of thymine as one of their nitrogenous bases

In the late 1950s, Meselson and Stahl grew bacteria in a medium containing "heavy" nitrogen (15N) and then transferred them to a medium containing 14N. Which of the results in the figure shown below would be expected after one round of DNA replication in the presence of 14N?

D

Suppose you are provided with an actively dividing culture of E. coli bacteria to which radioactive thymine has been added. What would happen if a cell replicates once in the presence of this radioactive base?

DNA in both daughter cells would be radioactive.

Eukaryotic telomeres replicate differently than the rest of the chromosome. This is a consequence of which of the following?

DNA polymerases can only add deoxyribonucleotides to the 3' end of an existing nucleotide chain