Chapter 7: Covalent Structures of Proteins and Nucleic

Acids

Multiple Choice
1. Enzymes that hydrolyze the internal peptide bonds (not the peptide bonds of the terminal
amino acids) of a protein are:
A) oxidoreductases.
B) lyases.
C) endopeptidases.
D) nucleases.
E) exopeptidases.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-1. Primary Structure Determination of Proteins

2. The positive charge on proteins in electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is the result of:
A) protons fired at the gas-phase protein molecules.
B) protonated Asp and Glu residues.
C) protonated Arg and Lys residues.
D) a high pH.
E) electrons fired at the gas-phase protein molecules.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 7-1. Primary Structure Determination of Proteins

3. A protein that has had few changes in its amino acid sequence over evolutionary history is

labeled:
A) a fibrinopeptide.
B) evolutionarily conservative.
C) random.
D) a product of pseudogenes.
E) phylogenetic.
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-3. Chemical Evolution

4. In two homologous proteins, which residue is most likely to replace a Glu residue as a
conservative substitution?
A) Asp
B) Trp
C) Met
D) Ile
E) Lys
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-3. Chemical Evolution

5. Paralogous genes are:

A) not genes for proteins.
B) genes of slowly evolving proteins.
C) relics of genes that are not expressed.
D) genes of rapidly evolving proteins.
E) the results of gene duplication.

Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 7-3. Chemical Evolution

6. A fast way for nature to generate new proteins is:

A) generation of pseudogenes.
B) mutation by neutral drift.
C) shuffling protein modules.
D) hypervariable positions.
E) liberal substitution.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-3. Chemical Evolution

7. Since there are 20 standard amino acids, the number of possible linear polypeptides of length
N can be expressed as:
A) n x 20
B) 20n
C) 20 x 10n
D) n20
E) n x 1020
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 7-5. Chemical Synthesis of Polypeptides

8. Natural polypeptides most commonly contain linear polypeptides between 100 and 1000
residues in length. Polypeptides outside this range may be disfavored because:
A) larger polypeptides would likely be insoluble.
B) smaller polypeptides do not form stable folded structures

C) small polypeptides typically assemble into prion-like aggregates.

D) A & B
E) A & C
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 7-5. Chemical Synthesis of Polypeptides

9. Which of the following has the most dramatic influence on the characteristics of an individual
natural protein:
A) the amino-acid sequence
B) the amino-acid composition
C) the type of intra-residue bond (amide vs. ester)
D) the stereochemistry at the alpha-carbon
E) the m-RNA sequence
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-1. Primary Structure Determination of Proteins

10. The Edman degradation is used to:

A) Determine a proteins N-terminal amino acid
B) Remove DNA from a protein sample
C) Separate subunits of a multi-subunit protein
D) Remove protein from a DNA sample
E) Determine a proteins C-terminal amino acid
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-1. Primary Structure Determination of Proteins

11. A phylogenetic tree depicts ___________ of proteins.

A) folding patterns
B) hypervariable residues
C) appropriate purification strategies
D) evolutionary relationships
E) gene sequences
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-3. Chemical Evolution

12. ______________ is an emerging technique for protein sequencing.

A) NMR spectroscopy
B) Mass spectrometry
C) Gel electrophoresis
D) Phylogenetic analysis
E) Limited proteolysis
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-1. Primary Structure Determination of Proteins

13. Which of these are not commonly used to cleave amide bonds in polypeptides?
A) trypsin
B) cyanogen bromide
C) endopeptidases
D) 2-mercaptoethanol
E) pepsin
Ans: D

Level of Difficulty: Moderate

Section: 7-5. Chemical Synthesis of Polypeptides

14. Protein sequences are customarily reconstructed from sequenced fragments since:
A) protein purification invariably results in the fragmentation of the protein of interest.
B) proteins are naturally and inevitably cleaved by proteolytic enzymes.
C) proteins are composed of multiple subunits.
D) large polypeptides cannot be directly sequenced.
E) all of the above
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-1. Primary Structure Determination of Proteins

15. Although a proteins primary sequence can be inferred from the nucleotide sequence,
modifications such as __________ can only be determined by direct protein sequencing.
A) phosphorylation
B) disulfide crosslinks
C) the addition of carbohydrate groups
D) the addition of acetyl groups
E) all of the above
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 7-1. Primary Structure Determination of Proteins

16. ___________ is an example of a very slowly evolving protein.

A) Histone H4
B) Hemoglobin
C) Cytochrome c

D) Fibrinopeptides
E) none of the above

Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 7-3. Chemical Evolution