Biol 131 Question bank Cell Structure

You are expected to bring completed study questions to the evening study session. Answer
these study questions by referencing the relevant sections of the textbook. The written
explanations are the most important part of your answers and key to learning of concepts.

1. Assume that the cube to the right has edges 4 inches long.
A. The surface area of each side of the cube is _____ in2,
and the total surface area of this cube is _____ in2.
The volume of this cube is _____ in3.
The surface/volume ratio of this cube is _____ .

B. If this cube was cut up into 64 one inch square cubes, what would be the
Surface/volume ratio of each cube? _____
Show calculations:

C. Which would have the larger surface/volume ratio:

small bacterial cell or larger eukaryotic cell (circle)

2. For your biology capstone research project you have decided to study the properties of epithelial
cells that line the trachea of mice. You find that these cells can be grown in cell culture and
retain many of their in vivo properties. Since learning how to use different types of microscopy
is an important part of your project, you must decide which technique would be most appropriate
to make different types of observations. Which type of microscopy would you recommend in
order to:

A. create time-lapse video of the cells moving and dividing.

___________________
B. count the number of cilia on the cell surface. Choices
Bright field
___________________
Fluorescence
C. show where the protein myosin occurs in the cell. DIC
Scanning electron
___________________
microscopy
D. monitor general appearance of the cells Transmission electron
microscopy
in the culture plate: ___________________
E. examine the arrangement of ER in the cell:
___________________

3. Answer the following questions to best understand the relative sizes of different objects.

Biol 131 Question Bank Cell Structure

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 A. Review the basic structures of the following six items, and pair them together as follows:
a. Human body cell d. Ribosome
b. Mitochondrion e. Protozoan
c. Virus f. Bacteria

1. ___ and ___ are similar in size and smallest

2. ___ and ___ are similar in size and next largest

3. ___ and ___ are similar in size and largest

B. In the scale bar below,

cm (10-2 M) = centimeter mm (10-3 M) = ___________________

m (10-6 M) = _________________ nm (10-9 M) = ____________________

C. Place each pair of items on the scale bar below (using corresponding numbers).

4. You have grown a culture of human cells and discover that it is heavily contaminated with
bacteria. Which of the following procedures will most likely eliminate the bacteria without
killing the human cells?
A. Treating the culture with a drug that causes microtubules to fall apart.
B. Diluting a small portion of the contaminated culture with 1000 times as much fresh
nutrient broth and regrowing the cells.
C. Treating the culture with a drug that damages DNA.
D. Treating the culture with a drug that dissolves cell walls.
E. Treating the culture with a detergent that destroys cell membranes.
Explain your selection:

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5. Eukaryotic cells have an extensive and complex cytoskeleton, yet prokaryotic organisms lack a
cytoskeleton. Identify 2 functions of eukaryotic cells that are dependent upon the cytoskeleton,
and explain why each function are not important to prokaryotes.
Why not important in prokaryotes
1. ________________________ :

2. ________________________ :

6. When cells (or entire organisms) are heated, proteins called Heat Shock Proteins (HSP) are
produced. There are many different types, and they are usually referred to as HSP70, HSP60,
HSP25, etc., where the number represents the molecular weight of the protein in Kd
(Kilodaltons). These proteins are now known to be chaperone proteins.
A. What does heating do to the structure of a protein? ________________________
B. What are the functions of chaperone proteins? _________________________
C. How would you explain the dramatic increase in HSP synthesis under heated conditions?

D. What is a dalton? ________________________________

- How many daltons are in a 75Kd protein? _______________
- If the average molecular weight of an amino acid is 135d, approximately how many
AAs would be expected in HSP70? _____________
Show calculation:

7. Circle the appropriate cell type in which the listed structure or molecule can be found. Note that
the structure or molecule can be found in more than one type of cell type or virus.
Structure or Molecule Is found in this Cell Type or Virus?
___Eukaryotes___ Prokaryote noncellular
A. nucleic acids animal plant bacterial virus
B. nucleus animal plant bacterial virus
C. cell membrane animal plant bacterial virus
D. chloroplast animal plant bacterial virus
E. cell wall animal plant bacterial virus
F. lysosome animal plant bacterial virus
G. mitochondrion animal plant bacterial virus
H. protein coat animal plant bacterial virus

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8. Your friend has just returned from a deep sea mission and claims to have found a new single-
celled life form. He believes this new life form may not have descended from the common
ancestor that all types of life on Earth share. However, hes never taken Cell Biology, so he asks
you determine whether his claim is true. In order to verify or dispute your friends claim, you
realize that you must first make a list of characteristics common to all prokaryotes and
eukaryotes, so that you can check whether this new life form is different in some fundamental
characteristic from all other types of life on Earth. So you generate a list of traits shared by all
prokaryotes and eukaryotes. What would you place on that list?
Characteristics shared by prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

9. Examine the picture to the right and answer the

following questions.
A. What type of organelle is this?
______________________
B. Redraw the organelle in cross-section as a flat 2-
D projection.
C. Label the inner, outer membranes
D. Review the process called endosymbiosis. Based upon this,
which membrane would you expect to be most similar in
structure to that of the endosymbiotic bacteria?
_____________________
Explain:

E. Would you expect the other membrane to be most similar in composition to:
a. the ER membrane
b. the cell membrane
c. the chloroplast membrane
Explain:

10. The drug called colchicine is highly toxic to eukaryotic cells because it causes disassembly of
microtubule filaments. What are three cellular processes that would be disrupted in cells treated
with colchicine?

1: ________________________
2: ________________________
3: ________________________

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11. A. Identify the type of cytoskeletal filament diagrammed in each of the following images. (The
dark spot represents the cell nucleus.)

__________________ __________________ _________________

B. In the appropriate diagram above, label the centrosome. What is its function?

C. Explain why the distribution of each type of filament makes sense for the functions it serves.
Intermediate filaments:

Actin Filaments:

Microtubules:

12. The picture to the right shows a nucleus.

A. The dark region that the arrow points at is called the
_____________________ and it is the site of
_____________________ synthesis.
B. What macromolecule would be most abundant in the light
regions? ____________________
C. Is the nuclear membrane most similar to that of the ER or
chloroplasts? ____________________
Explain.

D. How do materials enter and exit the nucleus?

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13. The diagram to the right shows a plant cell. Enlargement
1. What are the structures labeled as:
A ______________________
B ______________________
C ______________________
2. D points to the boundary between two
cells. Draw an enlarged diagram of this
region and label the cell walls,
membranes, cytoplasms and intercellular
space for the two adjacent cells.

14. Matching: Match each cellular component with its function/description.

_______ mitochondria A. synthesis of new polypeptide chains
_______ lysosomes B. used to store or transport substances in cell
_______ ribosome C. sorting and packaging of proteins to various cell locations
_______ vesicle D. degradation of inter and extra cellular materials
_______ golgi E. allows for exchange of materials between nucleus and cytoplasm
_______ nucleolus F. location where photosynthesis occurs, contains genetic material
_______ nucleus G. double membrane compartment, contains most cellular DNA
_______ smooth ER H. area where ribosomes are constructed
_______ chloroplast I. manufactures fatty acids/membrane components
J. location where cellular respiration occurs

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16. The diagram below shows the components of the endomembrane transport system. Complete the
diagram by:
A. Labeling the:
ER; smooth and rough nucleus endosome
golgi; cis and trans faces lysosome cell membrane

B. Adding arrows and vesicles that show the pathway of movement

of the transport cargo between the appropriate cellular Indicate direction of
compartments. As shown to the right, label membrane transport vesicle movement
vesicles that are carrying: and content like this:
-- NP = vesicles containing new proteins moving to the golgi
-- HE = vesicles containing hydrolase (hydrolytic) enzymes
-- CE = vesicles containing materials from the cell exterior
to be broken down
-- SE = materials to be secreted outside of the cell

C. Assume that 3 different types of protein are processed through the endomembrane transport
system. Although each protein serves a different function, when they ultimately reach the
cell membrane, all three are glycoproteins and possess the same oligosaccharide.

Explain why 3 different mutations would be required to alter the primary structures of these
proteins, but only a single mutation to alter the oligosaccharides on all three?

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