Molecular basis of inheritance

If a DNA sample were composed of 10% thymine, what would be the percentage of guanine?

40

An Okazaki fragment has which of the following arrangements?

5' RNA nucleotides, DNA nucleotides 3'

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%

A space probe returns with a culture of a microorganism found on a distant planet. Analysis shows that it is a carbon-based life-form that has DNA. You grow the cells in 15N medium for several generations and then transfer them to 14N medium and grown them for another generation. Which pattern in the figure shown below would you expect if the DNA was replicated in a conservative manner?

B

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

Which enzyme catalyzes the elongation of a DNA strand in the 5' → 3' direction?

DNA polymerase III

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

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

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

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

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.

What kind of chemical bond is found between paired bases of the DNA double helix?

Hydrogen

Why are there concerns about using increased telomerase activity to slow down the aging process?

One concern is that increasing telomerase activity could increase cancer rates.

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

Telomere extension in mice and worms has reversed some signs of aging.

Which of the following will happen to your chromosomes as you become older?

Your chromosomes will become shorter.

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

a reduction in chromosome length in gametes

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 pairs of nucleotides that interact to join together two DNA strands are known as

complementary nucleotides

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

dehydration reaction

The elongation of the leading strand during DNA synthesis

depends on the action of DNA polymerase.

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

hydrogen bonds

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

nucleosome, 30-nm chromatin fiber, looped domain

DNA polymerases can add deoxyribonucleotides to

only the 3' end of an existing nucleotide chain

Histones are

part of nucleosomes

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

Which of the following describes the sequence of events that occurs during DNA replication of a double-stranded DNA molecule?

separation of the DNA strands at DNA replication origins, unwinding of the DNA double helix, synthesis of RNA primers, synthesis of DNA, ligation of DNA fragments

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

sequence of bases

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

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

At a specific area of a chromosome, the sequence of nucleotides below is present where the chain opens to form a replication fork: 3' C C T A G G C T G C A A T C C 5' An RNA primer is formed starting at the underlined T (T) of the template. Which of the following represents the primer sequence?

5' A C G U U A G G 3'

When a DNA molecule is replicated,

All of these answers are correct

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.

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.

A biochemist isolates, purifies, and combines in a test tube a variety of molecules needed for DNA replication. When she adds some DNA to the mixture, replication occurs, but each DNA molecule consists of a normal strand paired with numerous segments of DNA a few hundred nucleotides long. What has she probably left out of the mixture?

DNA ligase

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

What is the basis for the difference in how the leading and lagging strands of DNA molecules are synthesized?

DNA polymerase can join new nucleotides only to the 3' end of a growing strand.

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

DNA polymerases can not initiate synthesis of new nucleotide chains

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

Each

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.

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

The order in which chromatin packing occurs is as follows:

The DNA wraps around histones, forming nucleosomes; the histones within each nucleosome interact with adjacent nucleosomes and with the DNA between nucleosomes to form a 30-nm fiber; the chromatin forms loops by attaching to scaffold proteins, forming a 300-nm fiber

In an experiment, DNA is allowed to replicate in an environment with all necessary enzymes, dATP, dCTP, dGTP, and radioactively labeled dTTP (3H thymidine) for several minutes and then switched to nonradioactive medium. It is then viewed by electron microscopy and autoradiography. The figure shown below represents the results. The grains in the figure represent radioactive material within the replicating eye. Which of the following is the most likely interpretation?

There are two replication forks going in opposite directions.

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.