1

CH1131_BiomolecularEngineering_Tutorial2_Q&A
Sep02,03and05,2015

1. You attempt to isolate a protein from a cultured cell line and make a seemingly strange
discovery. It seems that you have isolated two similar proteins. Their primary sequences are
identical from the N-terminal end through about two thirds of the length of the protein.
Beyond that point and continuing to the C-terminal end, the sequence is quite different and
terminates a bit early on one of the proteins. You suspect that a rare process is operating
here. How do you explain it?

2. Microtubules can be prepared from soluble tubulin that was polymerized in the presence of
taxol, a drug that promotes assembly and stabilizes the polymer. This drug has recently been
in the news as a potentially effective anti-cancer drug. Why might it be effective?

3. You are exploring a rather inhospitable planet, which has seas that are somewhat hydrophobic in
nature. Surprisingly, there are living organisms in the seas whose cytoplasm is hydrophobic to a
similar degree. These organisms have membranes made primarily of phospholipids arranged in
a bilayer. What is the most probable orientation of these phospholipids?

4. Suppose you were planning to use liposomes in an attempt to deliver drugs to a particular
type of cell in the body, for example, a fat or muscle cell. Is there any way you might be able
to construct the liposome to increase its target specificity?

5. If you were comparing the molecular structure of kinesin and myosin, which are thought to
have been derived from a common ancestral protein, which part (heads or tails) would you
expect to be most similar between them? Why?

6. Because cytoplasmic vesicles are seen to move in both directions within an axon, can you
conclude that some microtubules are oriented with their plus end facing the axon terminus
and others oriented with the opposite polarity? Why or why not?

7. Which of the following is a function of membranes?

a. compartmentalization
b. selectively permeable barrier
c. mediates intercellular interactions
d. helps cells respond to external stimuli
e. all of the above

8. _______ are fluid-filled, membrane-bound spherical vesicles surrounded by a single,

continuous lipid bilayer, resembling a natural membrane. It is hoped that these structures
loaded with DNA or an anticancer drug may be useful in treating cancer or some other
disease.
a. Liposomes
b. Micelles
c. Syringes
d. Lysosomes
e. Doxorubisomes
 2

9. What kind of membrane protein penetrates into the hydrophobic part of the lipid bilayer?
a. integral protein
b. lipid-anchored protein
c. peripheral proteins
d. b and c
e. a and b

10. What kind of membrane protein is found entirely outside the bilayer on the extracellular or
cytoplasmic surface? These proteins are associated with the membrane surface by
noncovalent bonds.
a. integral protein
b. lipid-anchored protein
c. peripheral proteins
d. b and c
e. a and b

11. Why is glucose able to leave the liver cell while glucose-6-phosphate cannot?
a. The liver cell plasma membrane is permeable to glucose.
b. The liver cell plasma membrane is impermeable to glucose.
c. The liver cell plasma membrane is impermeable to glucose-6-phosphate.
d. The liver cell plasma membrane is permeable to glucose-6-phosphate.
e. a and c

12. Which of the proteins below is(are) not made on the RER or typically glycosylated and thus
converted to glycoproteins?
a. peripheral membrane proteins
b. soluble lysosomal proteins
c. vacuolar enzymes
d. proteins of the extracellular matrix
e. all of the above

13. The two separate categories of uptake of extracellular materials into cytoplasmic vesicles are
______ and ______.
a. phagocytosis, exocytosis
b. pinocytosis, exocytosis
c. phagocytosis, endocytosis
d. pinocytosis, endocytosis
e. exocytosis, endocytosis

14. What word or phrase below characterizes the three cytoskeletal filaments?
a. polymer of protein subunits
b. protein subunits connected to one another by covalent bonds
c. protein subunits connected to one another by weak, noncovalent bonds
d. a and c
e. a and b

15. Which type of cytoskeletal element is characterized as a hollow, rigid cylindrical tube with
walls composed of tubulin subunits?
a. microfilaments
b. microtubules
c. intermediate filaments
d. all of the above
e. minitubules
 3

16. Which type of cytoskeletal element is described as a solid structure composed of actin
subunits?
a. microfilaments
b. microtubules
c. intermediate filaments
d. all of the above
e. macrofilaments

17. What is the function of the protein coat on budding vesicles?

a. It acts as a mechanical device that helps to form the vesicle.
b. It protects the forming vesicle from osmotic shock.
c. It prevents the diffusion of harmful materials into the forming vesicle.
d. It provides a mechanism for selecting components and cargo to be carried by each
vesicle.
e. a and d

18. What is the arrangement of organelles in a secretory cell from the basal end to the apical end, an
arrangement that reflects the flow of secretory products from synthesis to discharge?
a. nucleus and RER SER - Golgi complex secretory vesicles
b. Golgi complex nucleus and RER SER secretory vesicles
c. nucleus and RER Golgi complex SER secretory vesicles
d. SER nucleus and RER Golgi complex secretory vesicles
e. secretory vesicles nucleus and RER SER Golgi complex

19. Which process below is responsible for bringing about the uptake of specific extracellular
macromolecules or ligands by binding them specifically at the external membrane surface? It
serves as the means for the selective uptake of macromolecules that may be present at
relatively low concentrations in the extracellular fluid.
a. bulk phase endocytosis
b. pinocytosis
c. receptor-mediated endocytosis
d. RME
e. c and d