Unit 3 AOS1 Practice questions

Multiple choice Questions:

Question 1
Which feature of the plasma membrane would be found in all animal cells but not in plant cells?
A. glycolipids
B. cholesterol
C. integral proteins
D. ion channels

Question 2
Polypeptides share a similar chemical structure in that they all start
A. and finish with a carboxylic acid.
B. and finish with an amine group.
C. with a carboxylic acid and finish with an amine group.
D. with an amine group and finish with a carboxylic acid.

Question 4
Amphipathic molecules are unusual in that part of the molecule attracts water while other parts of
the molecule repel water. Which of the following molecules would be considered amphipathic?
A. glucose
B. starch
C. phospholipid
D. carbon dioxide

Question 5
A human chromosome was found to contain 21% cytosine bases. The percentage of guanine
bases in this chromosome would be
A. 21%
B. 42%
C. 58%
D. 29%

Question 6
Which of the following forms of movement across a membrane could be considered as occurring
in both directions?
A. phagocytosis
B. pinocytosis
C. bulk transport
D. exocytosis

Question 7
A particular protein is made up of two distinct polypeptide chains which are linked by disulfide
bonds. This joining of the two polypeptide chains is most likely to have occurred in the
A. golgi bodies.
B. smooth endoplasmic reticulum.
C. mitochondria.
D. chromoplast.

Question 9
The production of a polypeptide chain during translation produces which type of molecule as a
by-product of the reaction?
A. oxygen
B. carbon dioxide
C. water
D. ethanol

Question 10
Which of the following shaped molecules listed below would be most suitable to act as an
allosteric inhibitor for the enzyme shown in Figure 1?

Answer: A

Question 11
A prokaryote would be expected to contain
A. lysosomes
B. a nucleus
C. ribosomes
D. an endoplasmic reticulum
Question 12
Enzymes aid chemical reactions by
A. increasing the activation energy of the reaction.
B. decreasing the activation energy of the reaction.
C. binding to the product at the active site.
D. binding to the substrate at the allosteric site.

Question 22
The ‘loaded’ molecules produced during the light dependent stage of photosynthesis include
A. ATP and NADH.
B. FADH2 and oxygen.
C. NADPH and oxygen.
D. ATP and NADPH.

Question 24
Amylase is an enzyme found in the saliva of humans and is responsible for the breakdown of
starch. It is constantly being manufactured by salivary gland cells because
A. acids within saliva break down amylase.
B. amylase is swallowed along with food.
C. amylase is broken down during its reaction with starch.
D. each amylase enzyme can only react with a single starch molecule.

Short-answer Questions:
Question 1

a) Write a balanced chemical equation for photosynthesis.

Answer: 6H2O + 6CO2 C6H12O6 + 6O2

b) From what type of cell would the researchers have obtained the thylakoid membranes used
in their research?
Answer:
- Chloroplasts
c) Name the stage of photosynthesis that is likely to remain unchanged in both the natural and
artificial chloroplasts and explain why.
Answer:
- Light independent stage of photosynthesis.
-
d) What are the outputs of the stage of photosynthesis identified in Question 3C?
Answer:
- 12 ATP, 12 NADPH and 6 O2
 e) When comparing the efficiency of artificial ‘chloroplasts’ to naturally occurring chloroplasts,
what steps would the researchers need to take to run a controlled experiment?
Answer:
- There needs to be a controlled group, i.e a group that is exposed to the oil and has
artificial chloroplasts whereas another group which has natural chloroplasts.
- Both the groups with the artificial chloroplasts and natural chloroplasts need to have the
same duration of time in which the growth of the plant is measured.
- Different sample sizes of natural chloroplasts and artificial chloroplasts can be used.
-
f) Assuming the experiment was correctly controlled, why might the artificial chloroplast
photosynthesis at a far faster rate than the natural one?
Answer:
-
g) Suggest a reason why the components of the artificial chloroplast were added to a drop of
oil.
Answer:
-
h) What is the original source of energy which drives the reactions occurring within the artificial
chloroplast?
Answer:
- Sunlight

Question 3 (8 marks)

The lac operon codes for enzymes that are responsible for the breakdown of lactose within
bacterial cells. However, these enzymes are not produced constantly, instead they are only
created when lactose is present in the environment.

a) What is meant by the term ‘operon’?

Answer:
- Operon is a set of genes that are transcribed under a regulator gene.
b) What does the letter ‘P’ in Figure 6 represent?
Answer:
- The letter ‘P’ in Figure 6 represents RNA polymerase.
c) What is the function of the regulator gene in relation to the lac operon?
Answer:
- The regulator gene controls the activity of the promoter, which is responsible for
the expression of the lac operon.
d) Explain the events that occur when lactose is present that results in the production of
the enzymes responsible for lactose breakdown.
Answer:
 - When lactose is converted, some of the lactose is converted into the allolactose. The
allolactose then binds to and changes the shape of repressor protein, causing the
repressor protein to detach from the DNA strand.
- This means that RNA polymerase can ‘zoom’ along the DNA strand and transcribe for
the structure genes lacZ, lacY and lacA. This results in structural proteins breaking
down lactose into glucose and galactase, in which glucose is later then used up in
cellular respiration.
e) Explain the benefit of gene regulation for an organism such as a bacterial cell.
Answer:
-