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Last Updated 2/28/06

Genetics Problem Set 2

General Essay Type Questions
1) Describe the lac operon, and how it works to regulate the level of b-galactosidase, in E. coli. Don't forget to include catabolite repression.
2) Describe how the tryptophan operon of E. coli functions (Include the attenuator).
3) What are the significance of cis-acting and trans-acting factors in transcription?
4) Describe how pre-mRNA becomes mRNA.
5) What are post-transcriptional and post-translational controls?

Multiple Choice Questions
1) The trp attenuator... A) is a DNA-RNA hybrid. B) is a pallendrome. C) is regulated by CAP. D) is a direct repeat. E) binds cAMP.

2) The lac operon is induced by... A) allolactose. B) galactose. C) corepressor. D) glucose. E) X-gal. F) cAMP.

3) Attenuators ... A) stop initiation of transcription. B) stop termination of transcription. C) stop elongation of transcription. D) stop initiation of translation.

4) Catabolite repression of the lac operon ... A) requires cAMP levels to be low. B) requires lactose levels to be low. C) requires glucose levels to be low. D) requires cAMP to bind CAP.

5) The trp operon ... A) uses tryptophan as an inducer. B) uses cAMP as an inducer. C) regulates the level of enzymes needed to make tryptophan. D) binds CAP.

6) b-galactosidase ... A) is a metabolite of lactose. B) converts lactose to glucose and galactose. C) is a metabolite of glucose. D) converts allolactose to sucrose.

7) Sequences downstream of the translation start site in most eukaryotes... A) include the stop codon. B) include the transcription start site. C) include the GC Box. D) are labeled with negative numbers. E) include the TATA Box region.

8) Pick the ONE true statement. A) snRNPs are found in polysomes. B) Replication of DNA occurs in the 3' to 5' direction. C) All hnRNA is processed and transported out of the nucleus. D) mRNAs can be translationally inactive.

9) Which ONE of the following statements is NOT true? A) hnRNA can have introns. B) 5S RNA is found in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic ribosomes. C) The degeneracy of the genetic code is due mostly to wobble. D) The CCAAT box is "downstream" of the transcription initiation site. E) Addition of a Poly(A) tail is a post-transcriptional event.

10) Which sequence is a palindrome when double stranded? A) CCTATGGATA B) ATAGGGGATA C) ACTATGGATA D) CCTATATAGG E) CCTATCCTAT

11) Sequences upstream of the transcription start site in most genes transcribed by RNA pol II... A) include the poly A addition sequence. B) include introns. C) include the GC box. D) are labeled with positive numbers. E) include the polypeptide coding region. F) do not include the CAAT box.

12) Most Eukaryotic mRNAs have a... A) 3' cap of 7mCppp. B) 3' cap of 7mGpp. C) 5' cap of 7mCppp. D) 5' cap of 7mGpp. E) 3' cap of 7mGppp. F) 3' cap of 7mCpp. G) 5' cap of 7mGppp. H) 5' cap of 7mCpp.

13) Which of the following is NOT TRUE? A) Viral DNA replicates with the bacterial chromosome during lysogeny. A) The lytic phase of the lambda infection produces new viruses. C) Lambda DNA in an E. coli chromosome is called an episome. D) Viruses self asemble when their proteins and nucleic acids are mixed together.

14) Which mutant DECREASES transcription of the Lac operon? A) The repressor fails to bind the operator. B) The repressor gene fails to make the repressor. C) CAP by itself binds RNApol. D) The operator is missing. E) The repressor fails to bind the inducer.

15) Which ONE of the following is NOT true? A) The E. coli sex pillus is hollow. B) F+ E. coli make pilli. C) All functional plasmids have an ori. D) Each eukaryotic chromosome has ONE ori.

16) Lambda genes ... A) are eukaryotic. B) can be either prokaryotic or eukaryotic. C) are prokaryotic. D) are neither prokaryotic nor eukaryotic.

17) Virus genes... A) are prokaryotic. B) can be either prokaryotic or eukaryotic. C) are eukaryotic. D) are neither prokaryotic nor eukaryotic.

18) Cotranslational transcription... A) is nuclear. B) is neither prokaryotic nor nuclear. C) is prokaryotic. D) can be either prokaryotic or nuclear.

19) Polycistronic messenger RNAs... A) can be either prokaryotic or eukaryotic. B) are prokaryotic. C) are neither prokaryotic nor eukaryotic. D) are eukaryotic.

True/False Questions
A) The half-life of RNA never changes. B) The CAAT box is found in introns. C) Operons are found in animals. D) Most eukaryotic mRNA's have "caps" and "tails". E) Transcription factors are proteins. F) Introns are found in mature mRNA. G) Lambda assembles spontaneously when its proteins and DNA are mixed together. H) snRNPs are found in polysomes. I) All hnRNA is processed and transported out of the nucleus. J) CAP-cAMP is cis acting.

Matching
I) Match the term on the right with the best description on the left. All RNA sequences below are written as DNA sequences (Answers may be used more than once).

___1) Needed for RNA splicing................................................. A) GC Box
___2) Primary transcript for RNA pol II ................................... B) Intron
___3) Poly A addition sequence ................................................ C) ATG
___4) Intervening sequence ....................................................... D) Exon
___5) Added to the 5' end of RNA after transcription ................ E) CAAT box
___6) Part of a split gene which codes for a polypeptide ........... F) AATAAA
___7) Spliced out region of mRNA ........................................... G) hnRNA
___8) 100-200 AMPs on 3' end of RNA.................................... H) snRNP
.................................................................................................... I) Cap
.................................................................................................... J) Exonuclease
.................................................................................................... K) Endonuclease
.................................................................................................... L) Tail
.................................................................................................... M) GTG

II) Match the term on the left with the best term on the right. All RNA sequences below are written as DNA sequences (Answers may be used more than once).

___ 1) Adds 3' tail........................................................................................ A) Coding region
___ 2) Shows active translation.................................................................... B) Exon
___ 3) b-galactosidase produces this product.............................................. C) Reverse transcriptase
___ 4) Open reading frame.......................................................................... D) Poly A polymerase
___ 5) A sequence ensuring the proper initiation site of transcription.......... E) 7mCppp
___ 6) The Lac repressor binds this sequence.............................................. F) 7mGppp
___ 7) hnRNA sequence missing in mRNA................................................. G) Allolactose
___ 8) Binds catabolite activating protein..................................................... H) Tryptophan
___ 9) Part of the eukaryotic core promoter................................................. I) DNA ligase
___10) Inducer of the Lac operon................................................................ J) TATA box
___11) Makes phosphodiester bonds.......................................................... K) CCAAT box
..................................................................................................................... L) Intron
..................................................................................................................... M) cAMP
..................................................................................................................... N) Lactose
..................................................................................................................... O) Polysome
..................................................................................................................... P) Operator
..................................................................................................................... Q) Glucose 

Other Questions
1) Put an X in the box under transcriptional control if an event is transcriptional, put an X in the box under translational control if an event is translational, put an X in the box under post-trancriptional control if the event is post-transcriptional, and put an X in the box under post-translational control if the event is post-translational (Each event can have more than one answer - disregard the mitochondria and plastids of eukaryotes for this problem).

............................................................................................................. post-tran- .......... post-trans-
Event ........................................ transcriptional ...... translational ........ scriptional ............ lational

Protein processing ......................... ______ .............. ______ .............. ______ .............. ______
Transcription factors bind DNA .... ______ .............. ______ .............. ______ .............. ______
Polysome formation ...................... ______ .............. ______ .............. ______ .............. ______
RNA processing ............................ ______ .............. ______ .............. ______ .............. ______

2) (fill-in the blank) In the 1950's ______________________________________ studied the Lac operon.

3) Put an X in the box under eukaryotic if an event is eukaryotic, put an X in the box under prokaryotic if an event is prokaryotic, put an X in the box under Eukaryotic & Prokaryotic if it is both. (disregard the mitochondria and plastids of eukaryotes for this problem).

Event or structure ............................. Eukaryotic ...................... Prokaryotic ........... Eukaryotic & Prokaryotic

A- Polycistronic mRNA ..................... ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______
B- 70s ribosomes ............................... ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______
C- one ori per chromosome ................ ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______
D- RNA processing ............................ ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______
E- hnRNA ........................................... ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______
F- snRNA ........................................... ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______
G- Co-translational transcription ......... ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______
H- Viruses ........................................... ______ ............................ ______ ............................ ______

4) Name one post transcriptional event which is NOT translational or post translational. ____________________________________

5) Name one post transcriptional event which is also post translational. ____________________________________________________

6) RNA attached to Protein is called a ______________________________________.

7) mRNA attached to ribosomes is called a ______________________________________.

8) An Hfr strain of E. coli is mixed with an F- strain of E. coli and "mating" is interrupted every two minutes. The F- bacteria are A- B- C- D- E- and the Hfr bacteria are A+ B+ C+ D+ E+. After "mating", the bacteria are plated on media Hfr bacteria can not grow on. The phenotypes are named for the genotypes and the following table was produced.

Phenotype Time of first appearance of the phenotype (min.)
A+ ............................................ 82
B+ ............................................ 32
C+ ............................................ 54
D+ ............................................ 62
E+ ............................................ 48

Draw a genetic map of the chromosome showing the distance between adjacent genes.

9) An Hfr strain of E. coli is mixed with an F- strain of E. coli and "mating" is interrupted every two minutes. The F- bacteria are a- Adh- Sod- D- Q- and the Hfr bacteria are a+ Adh+ Sod+ D+ Q+. After "mating", the bacteria are plated on media Hfr bacteria can not grow on. The phenotypes are named for the genotypes and the following table was produced.

Phenotype ............. Time of first appearance of the phenotype (min.)
a+ .......................................................... 21
Adh+ ...................................................... 93
Sod+ ...................................................... 48
D+ ......................................................... 56
Q+ ......................................................... 70

Draw a genetic map of the chromosomeshowing the distance between adjacent genes.

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ANSWERS for Genetics Problem Set Ib

General Essay Type ANSWERS
1 through 5)
There are many diiferent ways these could be aswered. The answers should be accurate, and show that you understand the concept.

Multiple Choice ANSWERS
1)
B) is a pallendrome 2) A) allolactose 3) C) stop elongation of transcription. (premature termination) 4) A) requires cAMP levels to be low 5) C) regulates the level of enzymes needed to make tryptophan 6) B) converts lactose to glucose and galactose 7) A) include the stop codon 8) D) mRNAs can be translationally inactive 9) False statement D) The CCAAT box is "downstream" of the transcription initiation site 10) D) CCTATATAGG 11) C) include the GC box 12) G) 5' cap of 7mGppp 13) False statement C) Lambda DNA in an E. coli chromosome is called an episome 14) E) The repressor fails to bind the inducer. 15) The ONE False statement is... D) Each eukaryotic chromosome has ONE ori. 16) C) are prokaryotic. 17) B) can be... 18) C) is prokaryotic. 19) B) are prokaryotic.

True/False ANSWERS [Only the true statements are written below]
D)
Most eukaryotic mRNA's have "caps" and "tails". E) Transcription factors are proteins. G) Lambda assembles spontaneously when its proteins and DNA are mixed together.

Matching ANSWERS

REDO
I -- 1) G or H 2) G 3) F 4) B 5) I 6) D 7) B 8) L

I I-- 1) D 2) O 3) Q 4) A 5) J 6) P 7) L 8) M 9) J 10) G 11) D or I 

Other Questions ANSWERS
1)
Protein processing ....................post-transcriptional & post-translational
Transcription factors bind DNA ....transcriptional
Polysome formation ......................translational & post-transcriptional
RNA processing ............................post-transcriptional

2) In the 1950's Jacob & Monod studied the Lac operon.

3) Polycistronic mRNA ................Prokaryotic
70s ribosomes ...............................Prokaryotic
one ori per chromosome ................Prokaryotic
RNA processing ............................Eukaryotic
hnRNA ..........................................Eukaryotic
snRNA ..........................................Eukaryotic
Co-translational transcription ........Prokaryotic
Viruses ..........................................Eukaryotic & Prokaryotic

4) Name one post transcriptional event which is NOT translational or post translational. Two answers: Removal of introns from hnRNA and transport of RNA from the nucleus.

5) Name one post transcriptional event which is also post translational. Two answers: Phosphorylation of proteins and proteolysis.

6) RNA attached to Protein is called a Ribonucleoprotein.

7) mRNA attached to ribosomes is called a Polysome (or Polyribosome, or Polysomal RNA).

8) A genetic map of the chromosome showing the distance between adjacent genes.

9) A genetic map of the chromosome showing the distance between adjacent genes.