Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
Which cycle of photosynthesis uses ATP and NADH to synthesize the glucose? (simplified but mainly used to make G3P before its built up into glucose)
Calvin cycle/light independent
What reaction ensures that macromolecules like proteins and carbohydrates have their individual units (monomers) glued/combined? And lots of monomers together forms a _____
What are enzymes responsible for lowering? To ensure that reactions proceed with much more ease than they would in natural conditions? (ex. glucose + O2 -> CO2 + H2O, very unlikely to happen in natural conditions)
Activation energy
A scientist runs a PCR reaction but forgets to add DNA polymerase. After 30 cycles, what will the results be, and why?
No DNA amplification will occur because DNA polymerase is the enzyme responsible for synthesizing new DNA strands during each cycle. Without it, the DNA cannot be copied.
This property of water allows it to dissolve ions like Na⁺ and Cl⁻ by surrounding them with partially charged regions.
Polarity.
In cellular respiration, it is all about the carbohydrate compounds like glucose, rich in C and H, and its high-energy electrons are used to make ATP as the final product. In this case, is glucose oxidized or reduced?
Give the two different general roles of polymer carbohydrates in organisms
Storage - long term storage of energy source
Structural - ex. cellulose in plant cells
When a noncompetitive inhibitor is bound to an enzyme, adding increased amounts of substrate (the specific molecule the enzyme acts on) helps with increasing the enzyme activity (yes/no)? Explain why
No
This is because non-competitive inhibitors change the shape of the enzyme so increasing the substrate will do nothing if the enzymes can't fit to the substrate
A DNA sample is loaded into an agarose gel. After electrophoresis, one band has traveled much farther than another. It is (bigger/smaller) than the fragment that didn't travel as far.
Smaller. Smaller DNA bands can travel through more of the pores in gel.
Which step of cellular respiration is responsible for releasing the CO2 that humans exhale?
Krebs cycle/tricarboxycyclic acid cycle
In photosynthesis, there are two steps present to it. However, they are performed in two different locations. In the light dependent reactions they are performed on the ______ ________ (hint: think what is needed to support the protein complexes of photosystems) while for calvin cycle/light independent they are performed in the ______.
Thylakoid membrane, stroma
Which of the following fatty acids (saturated/unsaturated) would be liquid at room temperature, and explain why? Make sure to make a specific reference to this type of fatty acid structure.
unsaturated - not as much H+ -> allows for double bonds to form -> which causes kinks in the unsaturated fatty acid making it hard to pack
A scientist measures an enzyme's activity at 10°C, 25°C, 37°C, and 80°C. The reaction is fastest at 37°C but nearly stops at 80°C. Explain why.
At 37°C the enzyme is near its optimal temperature. At 80°C, the enzyme denatures, changing the shape of its active site so the substrate can no longer bind effectively.
What is the purpose of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in the technique SDS-page? What will the resulting proteins treated with this + b-mercaptoethanol be differentiated on? (ex. color THIS IS NOT THE ANSWER etc..)
encoats protein in negative charge, ensures even charge to mass ratio across all proteins and allows proteins to be separated by size
A membrane contains a higher percentage of saturated fatty acids than normal. Predict how this membrane behaves at low temperatures.
It becomes more rigid because straight saturated tails pack tightly together.
Explain why it is so important for the mitochondria to have this weird curvy shape or simply folds (called cristae) for their inner membrane?
Increase surface area to volume ratio - important in ensuring there is A LOT of space for proteins on the membrane for cellular respiration mechanisms
half credit if they say something like ensure things diffuse into the cell (like valid because SA:V explanation I talked about it, but what's important is all this space for the proteins to do their thing)
Explain why cholesterol is a good buffer of the cell membrane in hot and cold conditions
Hot - prevent molecules from moving too much and becoming too fluid
Cold - act as a barrier to prevent the fatty acids from packing and freezing
An enzyme has reached its optimal temperature, pH, and substrate concentration, but the reaction is still occurring much more slowly than expected. Give two possible explanations.
Example responses (need 2):
A Western blot is performed correctly, except the primary antibody is accidentally omitted. The secondary antibody is still added.
What would you expect to see on the final blot? Explain.
No bands/signal.
The secondary antibody binds to the primary antibody. Without the primary, the secondary has nothing to bind to.
Why do phospholipids form closed spheres instead of flat sheets when placed in water?
Phospholipids have hydrophobic tails, so being arranged in a capsule allows the hydrophobic tails to be shielded from water.
Explain the 2 stages of photosynthesis in simple terms. (Light dependent + light independent)
Light dependent - use energy from photons -> chemical energy
Light-independent - use chemical energy to synthesize precursors to glucose (G3P)/anything siad that applies to making sugar is valid
Which of the following macromolecule categories is mainly important in our genetic information/expression? And specifically, which one in this category is responsible for our hereditary information, and explain how it does this.
Nucleic acids, DNA, through nucleotides A, C, T,G, and different combinations of them, making up our genome
A cell contains 100 molecules of an enzyme and 10,000 molecules of its substrate. A student predicts that all 100 enzyme molecules will be "used up" after converting 100 substrate molecules.
Is the student correct? Explain using what you know about catalysts.
No.
Enzymes are catalysts and are not consumed during reactions. Each enzyme can catalyze many substrate molecules over time, so the same 100 enzymes can convert far more than 100 substrate molecules.
Although CRISPR gene editing seems very similar to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), they are different. What is this key difference?
CRISPR gene editing usually occurs within a species, while GMOs mix genetic code from different species.
What is the purpose of attaching a phosphate group to glucose the moment it enters the cell?
To make it charged and hard to exit the cell -> higher energy state for conversion into other compounds
If they can't answer award them +250 because this is just anticheat - if they can either cracked or AI usage....