FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

FINAL EXAMINATION

Course Code & Name : MF108 STRUCTURAL BIOCHEMISTRY

Semester : May – August 2021
Instructor/Examiner/Lecturer : Assoc Prof Dr Nyam Kar Lin/Asst Prof Dr Yam Hok Chai
Duration : 3 hours

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

FIVE (5) SHORT RESPONSE ITEMS 50 mark

TOTAL: 50 marks

This question paper consists of 1 page, excluding the cover page. Your answers should
be thorough but concise. Prepare your Exam Submission in the question paper itself in
Microsoft Word file, named as “MF108 Final Exam_Student ID” and submit in MB306
class CN (Task  Final Exam Submission). You are allowed to write or draw diagrams
on different paper, snap picture and transfer into this document/file. Late submission
will result in 0% for this assessment.
ANSWER SUMISSION INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:
Page 1 - this page
Page 2 - softcopy of your Student ID
Page 3 - softcopy of your exam token
Page 4 onwards - your answers. Please number your answers clearly.

Warning:
The University Examination Board of UCSI University regards cheating and plagiarism as a
most serious offence and will not hesitate to mete out the appropriate punitive actions
according to the severity of the offence committed, and in accordance with the clauses
stipulated in the Students’ Handbook, up to and including expulsion from UCSI University.

Student ID
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Exam token

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FIVE (5) SHORT RESPONSE ITEMS. [50 marks]
Instruction: Answer ALL items in this word file.

Q1. (a) Proteins are the main biomolecules that constitute life, elaborate why amino acids are
the perfect monomer of proteins. [5
MARKS]

(b) In your opinion, why specificity of chiral property is important for amino acids?
[3 MARKS]
(c) Why is cysteine amino acid needed as a protein monomer? [2
MARKS]

Q2. (a) Explain the properties of a protein to function as a structural component?

[4 MARKS]
(b) Explain how protein sequence is used as the reference for deducing the history of
life?
[4 MARKS]

Q3. (a) Discuss the advantages of using enzymes in conducting chemical reactions.
[2 MARKS]
(b) “Velocity of enzyme is in linear correlation with substrate concentration during early
enzymatic reaction”
Defend this statement using a kinetic model of enzyme activity.
[5 MARKS]

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 (c) Provide an example of enzyme to explain the importance of metal ion in assisting to
perform catalytic reaction. [4
MARKS]

(d) Explain how the Lineweaver-Burk plot is used in deducing the asymptotical V m
value.
[5 MARKS]

Q4 (a) In your opinion, what makes DNA is a perfect molecule to store inheritable genetic
information? [4
MARKS]

(b) What possible circumstances would happen if RNA and DNA are having the same
nucleotides? [3 MARKS]

Q5 (a) Explain why the fluidity nature is needed for membranes. [4 MARKS]

(b) Discuss the inevitable roles of ion pumps in sustaining cell functions, provide specific
examples in your explanation. [5
MARKS]

<END OF QUESTION PAPER>

Q1
(a) Amino acids are the perfect monomer of proteins because the side chains of amino
acids have different structure and chemical function and once the different amino
acids combine together, it can make the proteins have different function. Besides, as
the amino acids have two functional group which are amino group (NH3+) and
carboxyl group (COO-) that can react to form peptide bond and linked the amino acids
together to form polypeptides chains. The amino group and carboxyl group also cause
the amino acids to have acid-base properties and the amino acids can act as weak
polyprotic acids.
(b) In my opinion, chiral property is important for amino acids because the different
direction of the four different group can affect the structure of protein and hence
affect the function of a protein.
(c)

Q2

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 (a) Protein may be formed by one polypeptide or more polypeptides. There are four
levels of protein structure: primary structure that is sequence of amino acids;
secondary structure that is the polypeptide chain can be arranged in helical or pleated
form by non-covalent forces; tertiary structure that is the overall folding pattern of the
polypeptide chains such as globular and fibrous; quaternary structure that is two or
more polypeptide chains of characteristic tertiary structure (subunit) interact together.
Based on the tertiary structure of protein, a globular protein has their hydrophobic
amino acid side chains facing inside and the hydrophilic side chains facing outside
causing the protein very soluble in aqueous solutions.
(b) Protein sequences are determined by the sequence of gene. This is because the
sequence of nucleotides in DNA can be transcribed to form mRNA via transcription
and the mRNA is used in the following step translation which is tRNA brings specific
amino acids and linked them together in particular order based on the genetic code of
mRNA. As the amino acids are linked together by peptide bonds, a polypeptide is
formed, and this is primary structure of proteins. Hence, if we reverse the whole
process, we can get the DNA sequence and that we can say protein sequence is used
as reference for deducing history of life.

Q3
(a) Using enzymes in conducting reactions can reduce the activation energy of the
reaction and hence speed up the chemical reaction.
(b)
(c) Cytochrome oxidase is an enzyme included in electron transport system of aerobic
respiration. It is transmembrane molecule and act as proton pump that is used to
produce energy. In the last step of energy production process, cytochrome oxidase
oxidizes the waste products (H+) produced by the process to form water molecule. If
the cytochrome oxidase is absence, the waste products cannot be oxidized and no
energy production would occur. If the energy cannot be produced, the H+ will not be
pumped from matrix to intermembrane space of mitochondria and hence ATP will not
be produced. In case, metal ions such as iron and copper are included in the subunits
of the enzymes.
(d)

Q4
(a) The basic units of DNA are nucleotides. Nucleotides consist of phosphate group, five-
carbon sugar(deoxyribose) and nitrogen-containing base. There are 4 types of
nitrogen-containing base which are adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. As these
4 types of nitrogen-containing base can form 4 types of nucleotides, and the
nucleotides can arrange in different sequences causing the possible sequences of
nucleotides to be thousands of million and hence DNA is a perfect molecule to store
inheritable genetic information.

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 (b) In my opinion, RNA and DNA will not be possible to have the same nucleotides
because the five-carbon sugar of DNA is deoxyribose and RNA is ribose.

Q5
(a) Fluidity nature of membrane is vital because most of the lipids or some proteins of the
membrane can drift laterally, and some molecules may flip-flop transversely across
the membrane. Besides, the fluidity of membrane is also important in the movement
of substances through the membrane such as endocytosis and exocytosis, the
substances will be transported in form of vesicle. In exocytosis, the vesicle will
migrate to cell membrane and release the substances; in endocytosis, the vesicles will
form from the cell membrane and bring the substances into the cell.
(b) Ion pumps are important in maintaining membrane potential. A voltage difference is
created when the positive and negative ions are distributed differently across a
membrane. There are two types of force that can cause ions to move across membrane
that are chemical force (ion’s concentration gradient) and electrical force (effect of
membrane potential on ion’s movement). For example, sodium-potassium pump is a
type of ion pump or electronic pump (transport protein that generates voltage) that
occurs in animal cells. In general, the sodium-potassium pump will maintain the
internal concentration of potassium ions higher than and the concentration of sodium
ions lower than outside of cell relatively.

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