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LIFS1901 General Biology I Model Exam Paper for Dr. Hung’s Part

Read the story below and answer all of the 20 questions about it in the spaces provided. The
total number of marks in this paper is 30.

On a trip to a shallow freshwater stream, a biologist saw some pretty-looking purple patches
on some stones in the streambed. He picked a stone with a purple patch and put it in his jar
together with some stream water. When he went back to his laboratory, he put the jar by the
window for decoration. After a week, he realized that the purple patch on the stone in the jar
had increased in size. He felt that the purple patch could be something living. So he removed
a small portion of the purple patch and examined it using a microscope. He saw a population
of purple-colored round-shaped smooth-surfaced unicellular organisms that he had never seen
before. After consulting many references for the identification of microorganisms, he
confirmed that this kind of microorganism was a new species that had never been classified.
He temporarily called it P (for purple).

The biologist was very excited about P and decided to do a series of experiments to study it.
He first prepared an inorganic growth medium (an aqueous solution of inorganic substances
that provide all elements required for the growth of living things; no organic substance). He
put this medium into two dishes and put a fixed number of P cells into the medium in each
dish. He put the two dishes under the same environmental conditions except that one dish was
illuminated with white light and the other was kept in the dark. After a week, he found that
the illuminated P cells attached to the dish surface and increased in number. On the other
hand, the P cells that had been kept in the dark lost color, died and disintegrated.

Question (1): How did P cells grow in the presence of inorganic substances and light? (1
mark)

Question (2): What relationship might P have with other living organisms in the natural
ecosystem where they live? (1 mark)
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With a series of biochemical analyses, the biologist found that the purple color of P cells was
caused by a pigment which was similar to chlorophyll. This pigment could absorb green light
but not red or blue light. It reflected red and blue light and that was why it was purple in color.
No other substance in the P cells was colored. Knowing this, the biologist put the same
number of P cells into separate dishes with the inorganic growth medium. He subjected them
to the same growth conditions except that one dish was illuminated by white light (i.e. a
combination of red, green and blue lights) and the other was illuminated by blue light of the
same intensity. After a week, the cells illuminated by white light grew but the cells
illuminated by blue light died.

Question (3): Provide a probable explanation to the above experiment results. (1 marks)

In another set of experiments, the biologist found that the P cells produced more purple
pigment and therefore became darker if they were growing in lower intensity of white light.

Question (4): What is the advantage of producing more purple pigment in lower light? (1
mark)

Suppose that the purple pigment is synthesized in the following pathway:

General building blocks (amino acids, sugars, fatty acids, etc,) ---(enzyme A) red pigment
---(enzyme B) purple pigment

Question (5): If the increase in purple pigment production in a P cell under reduced light was
related to the expression of a gene, suggest the function of this gene and how light affects the
expression of this gene. (3 marks)
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One day, the biologist found that some P cells turned red in color. He isolated out these red
cells and grew them in a separate dish under the same environmental conditions. They grew
into a red patch. The biologist called these mutant cells R (for red). An R cell had round shape
and smooth surface, like a P cell. With a series of biochemical analyses, the biologist found
that R cells produced a red pigment instead of the purple pigment produced by P cells.

Question (6): If the change of P cells’ pigment from purple to red was related to a change in
a gene, suggest the function of this gene, the nature of this genetic change, and how this
genetic change affects the pigment color? (3 marks)

Question (7): Which would grow faster under white light, P or R cells? Why do you think so?
(1 marks)

The biologist tested if P cells could grow in a medium with organic nutrients. He found that
they could. In addition, P cells could grow in this organic medium at the same rate no matter
if they were illuminated or kept in the dark. Furthermore, P cells grew faster in the organic
medium than in the inorganic medium even if the optimal intensity of light was used to
illuminate the cells in the inorganic medium.

Question (8): If a property of P cells changed after they were grown in the organic medium
for numerous generations, what property would most probably change? Why do you think so?
(3 marks)
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When the biologist kept track of the growth of individual P cells under a microscope, he
observed the following growth pattern. As a P cell grew up to a maximum size in a few days,
it divided twice to form 4 small colorless motile (moving) cells. These motile cells would not
grow. When a motile cell met a motile cell produced by another P cell, they would fuse to
become one cell, which would soon become a P cell after losing its motility and gaining the
purple color. If a motile cell did not fuse with another motile cell within a few days, it would
die off and disintegrate.

Question (9): What do we call the way by which P cells produce more cells of the same kind?
(1 mark)

Question (10): What do we call the process by which a P cell forms the motile cells? (1
mark)

Question (11): Compare the genome of a P cell right before it divides with the genome of a
motile cell. (2 marks)

The biologist mixed the motile cells formed by P cells with the motile cells formed by R cells.
He found that the hybrid cells formed by the fusion between these two kinds of motile cells
were purple in color.

Question (12): What does this result tell us about the relationship between the traits in
pigment color: purple and red? (0.5 mark)

In order to do more genetic experiments, the biologist treated P cells with a chemical agent
and a physical agent to generate mutant cells with different characters.

Question (13): If you were the biologist, what chemical and physical agents would you use?
(1 mark)
(LIFS1901)[2012](f)final~=8bbidkd_^_67540.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=0 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.

The biologist generated the following 2 types of mutant cells from P cells:

E cell – It had an elongate shape (in contrast to the round shape of a normal P cell). It had
purple color and smooth surface, like a P cell.

W cell – It had a wrinkled surface (in contrast to the smooth surface of a normal P cell). It had
purple color and round shape, like a P cell.

He mixed the motile cells formed by R (red and round) cells with the motile cells formed by
E (purple and elongate) cells. All the hybrid cells formed by the fusion of these two kinds of
motile cells were purple and round, like P cells. When he mixed the motile cells formed by
these hybrid cells, the fusion of these motile cells gave the following 4 different kinds of
second-generation hybrid cells in the following relative frequencies:

Appearance Relative Frequency

purple and round 9
purple and elongate 3
red and round 3
red and elongate 1

Question (14): What do these results tell you about the relationship between the two traits in
cell shape: round and elongate? (0.5 mark)

Question (15): What do these results tell us about the relationship between the gene
determining pigment color and the gene determining cell shape? (1 mark)

The biologist mixed the motile cells formed by R (red and smooth) cells with the motile cells
formed by W (purple and wrinkled) cells. All the hybrid cells formed by the fusion of these
two kinds of motile cells were purple and smooth, like P cells. When he mixed the motile
cells formed by these hybrid cells, the fusion of these motile cells gave the following 3
different kinds of second-generation hybrid cells in the following relative frequencies:

Appearance Relative Frequency

purple and smooth 2
purple and wrinkled 1
red and smooth 1
(LIFS1901)[2012](f)final~=8bbidkd_^_67540.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=0 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.

Question (16): What do these results tell us about the relationship between the two traits in
cell surface: smooth and wrinkled? (0.5 mark)

Question (17): What do these results tell us about the relationship between the gene
determining pigment color and the gene determining cell surface? (1 mark)

In one experiment, the biologist put some P cells into 10 ml of inorganic medium in a 100-ml
transparent glass container and then he sealed the opening of the container with some molten
glass so that the air inside the container could not be exchanged with outside air. He could not
renew the growth medium either. He then put the container under the best environmental
conditions for P cell growth, including illumination with white light of the optimal intensity.
The P cells inside the containers first attached to the inner surface of the container and grew
into a purple patch as expected. After the purple patch increased in size to about 10 cm2, it
stopped increasing further. However, the purple patch was not dead either. It remained
attached to the container surface and purple in color as long as the experiment continued.
When the biologist monitored the cells in it under a microscope, he found that some cells
were growing and dividing while the other cells were dead and decomposing. The overall
number of living cells remained relatively constant. The biologist was sure that P was the
only kind of organism inside the container; there was no other organism, such as bacterium or
fungus. So, P actually established a self-sustainable single-species ecosystem in the
container!

Question (18): State and explain the abilities that P must have in order to form such a
self-sustainable single-species ecosystem under the given environmental conditions. (2.5
marks)
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Question (19): What do you expect to be the outcome of the experiment if the biologist had
put into the sealed container at the beginning of the above experiment equal number of P and
R cells? Explain your expectation. [Remark: Your expectation must be consistent with your
answer to Question (7) above.] (2.5 marks)

Question (20): What do you expect to be the outcome of the experiment if the biologist had
put into the sealed container at the beginning of the above experiment P cells together with
some organisms of species X that eat P cells as the only way to acquire nutrients? Explain
your expectation. [Bonus marks will be given if you propose more than one possible
outcome.] (2.5 marks)
(LIFS1901)[2012](f)final~=8bbidkd_^_67540.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=0 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.

Question for bonus marks: Do you have any comments or insights regarding the
hypothetical species P? Write them down if you do. (3 marks)

--- END OF PAPER ---