Name: Version 1

Biol 1510 Fall 2019 Midterm 1 Version 1

Do NOT open the exam until you are told to start.

Write and BUBBLE IN your full (first and last!) name on the answer sheet.

Write and BUBBLE IN your GTID number where “ID Number” is indicated, starting with the first
(left-most) column.

Write and BUBBLE IN the test version number in the section marked “Ver”.

Sign the scantron to confirm that you will abide by the GT Honor Code.

Write your name on the cover page of the exam questions.

The exam has 35 questions, each worth 3 points, for 105 possible points. The maximum exam score is
100 points, so you can miss or skip a question and still score 100.

Most questions will have 5 answer choices, but some questions may have fewer answer choices.
Choose the single best answer for each question.

After you have checked your answers and that you have correctly bubbled in your name, GTID, and
test version #:
1) Write the time that you completed your exam on the signature line of your scantron
2) QUIETLY turn in your answer sheet and exam papers; show your ID to the proctor.

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1. Which of these elements is NOT present in organic molecules?

a. Sulfur
b. Hydrogen
c. Calcium
d. Nitrogen
e. Phosphorous

2. Which of these molecules is organic?

a. b.

c. d.

3. What are the main function of phospholipids?

a. Static structures
b. Cell to cell recognition
c. Cell boundaries
d. Enzymatic activities
e. Genetic storage

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4. Mutations in the aquaporin protein that change a hydrophobic amino acid into another similarly
sized hydrophobic amino acid would have an effect on what level of protein structure?
a. Primary
b. Secondary
c. Tertiary
d. Quaternary
e. All of the above

5. The cell membrane functions under a fluid mosaic model due to what feature?
a. Fatty acids are able to transfer from one side of the membrane to the other
b. Fatty acids are bound together by high energy covalent bonds
c. Proteins aren’t present in the cellular membrane
d. Proteins are bound in one location of the membrane but fatty acids can move freely
e. Fatty acids can move freely within the same side of the membrane

6. What type of transport across a lipid

membrane is indicated by the graph to
the right?
a. Simple diffusion
b. Facilitated diffusion
c. Active transport
d. Both B and C
e. Both A and B

7. Eukaryotes that live near hydrothermal vents could change the composition of their membranes
in what way to compensate for the increased temperature and a leaky membrane?
Question was tossed due to improper answer choices. The correct answer should have been A
and B.
a. Increase the amount of saturated fatty acids in their membranes
b. Increase the length of their fatty acids in their membranes
c. Increase the concentration of cis-unsaturated fatty acids in their membranes
d. All of the above
e. Both B and C

8. If you take a freshwater algae out of freshwater and place it into a saltwater environment what
will initially happen to the cell?
a. It will lose water and decrease in volume
b. It will remain the same size
c. It will absorb water and increase in volume

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9. You are presented with two cells and asked to identify which is the eukaryote and which is a
prokaryote. Which of the following structures would be least useful in differentiating the cells?
a. The presence of nuclei in the cell
b. Whether the DNA in circular or not
c. Presence of endoplasmic reticulum
d. Presence of a plasma membrane
e. Type of ribosomes in the cell

10. Some species of bacteria that once lived inside eukaryotic host cells in an endosymbiotic
relationship have now become integrated into eukaryotic cell function. Which of the following
cell structures came last evolutionarily?
a. Nuclei
b. Mitochondria
c. Chloroplasts
d. Endomembrane system
e. All were simultaneous

11. When tracking proteins through the cell, where does the protein visit directly after the Golgi?
a. Rough ER
b. Endoplasm
c. Golgi
d. Secretory vesicles
e. Plasma membrane

12. Which membranes or organelles are responsible for making a protein?

a. The nuclear envelope
b. The Golgi vesicles
c. The secretory vesicles
d. The transport vesicles
e. The ribosomes

13. Living organisms are subject to the second law of thermodynamics. Which of the following is
not a natural consequence of this reality?
a. Growing organisms decrease in entropy by increasing the entropy of the universe
b. Heat or light is often given off as a by-product of chemical reactions of bodies
c. Organisms create more disorder in their environment by simply being alive
d. Living organisms are able to convert energy into matter
e. Living organisms are not perfectly efficient when extracting energy from food

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14. Which letter represents

the energy required to
transition from reactants
to products in an
enzyme-catalyzed
reaction?
a. a
b. b
c. c
d. d
e. e

15. A new drug is being developed as a noncompetitive inhibitor. Which of the following most
accurately describes this drug?
a. A molecule that can binds an enzyme on along the active site
b. A molecule that has a different chemical structure to that of the substrate
c. A molecule that forms the same products as the substrate
d. A molecule that has the same molecular mass as the substrate
e. A molecule that changes the shape of an enzyme to prevent allosteric binding

16. You are investigating the role of a specific catalytic protein in an organism. If you wanted to
distinguish between whether it bound to the substrate or bound to an allosteric regulator, which
of the following pieces of evidence would best support substrate binding of the catalytic
protein?
a. The substrate has an active site specific to the catalytic protein
b. If you artificially add more of the protein, the reaction doesn’t level off
c. The reaction generates excess energy lost in the form of heat
d. The reaction is cool to the touch since it requires energy to complete
e. The enzyme changes shape after you add the protein you’re investigating

17. Scientists have discovered a new species of bacteria in Antarctica and want to determine what
type of metabolism the organism has. Through their research they notice that the bacteria cannot
grow when exposed to light and air only. However when sugar is added to the system the
bacteria are able to grow and reproduce. Even in the presence of sugar these bacteria are unable
to grow in the dark. What type of metabolism do these bacteria have?
a. Chemoheterotrophy
b. Chemoautotrophy
c. Photoheterotropy
d. Photoautotrophy
e. None of the above

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18. In which of these processes does substrate level phosphorylation occur?

a. Glycolysis
b. Pyruvate oxidation
c. Citric Acid Cycle
d. All of the above
e. A and C

19. When NADH donates an electron to the electron transport chain (ETC) through a redox reaction
which of the following is true:
a. NADH is reduced to NAD+ and the first protein in the ETC is also reduced
b. NADH is reduced to NAD+ and the first protein in the ETC is oxidized
c. NADH is oxidized to NAD+ and the first protein in the ETC is also oxidized
d. NADH is oxidized to NAD+ and the first protein in the ETC is reduced
e. None of the above

20. Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is responsible for almost 50% of all poisoning deaths
worldwide. Hemoglobin in red blood cells has a much higher affinity for CO then it does for
oxygen gas. Exposure to high levels of CO thus lead to less oxygen reaching cells. What would
be the effect of CO poisoning on the proton gradient in cells?
a. The proton gradient will decrease
b. The proton gradient will increase
c. The proton gradient will be unchanged

21. Which step or steps do proteins enter into the metabolic pathways?
a. Glycolysis
b. Citric Acid Cycle
c. Pyruvate Oxidation
d. Both B and C
e. Both A and C

22. A human skin cell has a mutation that makes the enzyme that converts pyruvate to acetyl-coA
nonfunctional. What would be the effect on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by
this cell?
a. CO2 production would be unchanged
b. CO2 production would decrease
c. CO2 production would increase

23. Yeast are able to survive under anaerobic conditions as long as they have a source of sugar.
What process provides yeast with most of their ATP under these conditions?
a. Citric acid cycle
b. Oxidative phosphorylation
c. Anaerobic respiration
d. Glycolysis
e. Photosynthesis

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24. Where does glycolysis occur in eukaryotes and prokaryotes?

a. In the cytoplasm in prokaryotes and the mitochondrial matrix in eukaryotes
b. In the cytoplasm in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes
c. In the mitochondrial membrane in eukaryotes and in the cytoplasm in prokaryotes
d. In the mitochondrial matrix in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes
e. In the outer membrane in prokaryotes and in the cytoplasm in eukaryotes

25. Scientists have discovered a drug that inhibits the activity of the enzyme responsible for
catalyzing the reaction of pyruvate into ethanol. Which of these would be an outcome of
administering this drug to cells getting their energy from fermentation?
a. Increase in NAD+
b. Decrease in pyruvate
c. Decrease in NADH
d. Increase in NADH
e. Increase in ethanol

26. Which of these is NOT strong evidence in support of the endosymbiont theory?
a. The electron transport chain being located in the inner mitochondrial membrane
b. Pyruvate oxidation being located in the mitochondrial matrix
c. The citric acid cycle being located in the mitochondrial matrix
d. Glycolysis being located in the cytoplasm
e. Photosynthesis occurring in chloroplasts

27. The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis occurred when photosystem I and photosystem II
were paired together. Why was did this innovation allow photosynthetic organisms to
outcompete other organisms in areas with plentiful sunlight?
a. It allowed photosynthetic organisms to produce more ATP
b. It allowed photosynthetic organisms to utilize the electron transport chain
c. It allowed photosynthetic organisms to utilize water as an electron donor
d. It allowed photosynthetic organisms to utilize respiration
e. It allowed photosynthetic organisms to utilize different terminal electron acceptors

28. Photosynthetic algae are grown in a flask

containing an oxygen electrode. These algae
have chloroplasts, whose chlorophylls show
the absorption spectra shown in the figure on
the right. Which wavelength of light will be
the LEAST absorbed?
a. blue light (450 nm)
b. green light (550 nm)
c. red light (670 nm)
d. UV light (400 nm)
e. Violet light (450 nm)

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29. In the chloroplast, which protein reduces NADP?

a. Photosystem I
b. Photosystem II
c. The thylakoid membrane electron transport chain
d. ATP synthase
e. Both photosystem I and II can reduces NADP

30. A plant cell is starved for energy. Where will the light energized electrons in photosystem I go?
a. NADP
b. Photosystem II
c. The Electron Transport Chain
d. The Calvin Cycle
e. Stays in Photosystem I

31. If ATP stops being available, what will

happen to the intermediates in the Calvin
cycle?
a. Ribulose-1,5-bP will increase, 3PG
will decrease
b. Ribulose-1,5-bP will decrease, 3PG
will increase
c. Ribulose-1,5-bP and 3PG will stay the
same
d. Both will increase
e. Both will decrease

32. Two molecules of G3P are needed to make a

molecule of glucose. How many molecules of
water are expended in the Calvin cycle to
make a molecule of glucose?
a. 6
b. 10
c. 12
d. 15
e. 18

33. Rubisco functions by catalyzing the reaction of CO2 with Ribulose 1,5-bP. If the levels of
oxygen gas in plant cells increase what will happen to the rate of CO2 consumption?
a. It will increase
b. It will decrease
c. It will stay the same

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34. Where do plants get most of their dry biomass?

a. Particle substances in the soil taken up by the plant roots
b. Molecules in the air that enter through holes in the plants leaves
c. Substances dissolved in water taken up directly by the roots
d. Energy from the sun
e. Water

35. There are 40 grams of sugar total a 12 oz can of coke which equates to roughly 12x10^22
molecules of glucose. How many rounds of the Calvin Cycle would need to take place to make
this much glucose?
a. 12x10^22
b. 6x10^22
c. 40
d. 80
e. 24x10^22

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