BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

1) Codons UAA, UAG, and UGA are ...

a) All bound by the same tRNA due to wobble binding
b) Bound by tRNAs lacking an amino acid
c) Recognised by protein release factors
d) The only codons with no meaning

2) Which and how many chains are found in 1 BCR?

a) 1 heavy chain + 1 light chain
b) 1 alpha chain + 1 beta chain
c) 2 heavy chains + 2 light chains
d) 2 alpha chains + 2 beta chains

3) With regards to antibody isotypes …

a) IgE is primarily found under epithelial surfaces
b) IgA can be secreted as a pentamer
c) Both IgG and IgD are secreted as monomers
d) IgM is never secreted

4) Which gel should be used to separate DNA fragments differing by 1 nucleotide?

a) Agarose gel
b) Polyagarose gel
c) Polyamide gel
d) Polyacrylamide gel

5) Identify which of the following is NOT a property of DNA.

a) High solubility in alcohol
b) High viscosity
c) Optimal UV absorption at 260 nm
d) High acidity

6) As dsDNA is converted to ssDNA …

a) UV absorption decreases
b) Viscosity decreases
c) Thymine is replaced with uracil
d) Optimal UV wavelength decreases

7) Regarding horizontal gene transfer …

a) Transformation = uptake of DNA via cell-cell contact
b) Transduction = uptake of DNA from environment
c) Transformation = uptake of DNA from phage interaction
d) Conjugation = uptake of DNA via cell-cell contact

8) CDR2 of the light chain is encoded by …

a) V segment
b) V and D segments
c) V and J segments
BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

d) V, D and J segments

9) Which sequence would have the highest melting temperature?

a) AAAAAAA
b) CGCCGGGCGCGGCCCCG
c) CGCGGCC
d) ATTATATATATTTATAAATAT

10) Which of the following is false regarding strand-directed mis-match repair in prokaryotes?
a) Involves MutS and MutL
b) Involves RAG1 and RAG2
c) Repairs DNA with non-complementary nucleotides
d) Distinguishes new/old strands based on methylation

11) What is the function of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases?

a) Synthesise tRNA
b) Bind codons to add amino acids to the polypeptide
c) Attach amino acids to tRNAs
d) Alter tRNA so that it can carry a different amino acid\

12) Transcription in prokaryotes never involves …

a) Recognition of -10 and -35 regions
b) Recognition of the TATA box
c) RNA polymerase
d) Rho-dependent termination

13) Which of the following enzymes does NOT have a role in cDNA synthesis?
a) RNA polymerase
b) Reverse transcriptase
c) RNase H
d) DNA polymerase

14) What is feedback inhibition?

a) Inhibited gene transcription via regulatory protein binding
b) Inhibition of an enzyme later in the pathway via product
c) Inhibition of DNA replication via pathway product
d) Inhibition of earlier enzyme activity via pathway product

15) What happens when tryptophan transcription is attenuated?

a) Tryptophan levels are low
b) The leader sequence is completely translated
c) 2:3 stem and loop structure forms
d) The ribosome stalls at ​trp​ codons

16) What is true of the polyadenylation of mRNA?

a) ~400 A residues are added to the 3’ end
BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

b) It allows for export of mRNA out of the nucleus

c) DNA polymerase is involved
d) It occurs after intron splicing

17) What is xeroderma pigmentosum?

a) Genetic defect in nucleotide excision repair enzymes
b) A chemical used to induce double stranded breaks
c) Congenital defect in transcription-coupled repair
d) None of the above

18) What is a characteristic of orthodox type II restriction enzymes?

a) Restriction sites are 10-15 nucleotides long
b) Cut both strands in different way
c) Recognition sites are palindromic
d) Leaves blunt ends

19) Which of these is a correct result of blue-white selection?

a) Correctly inserted plasmids will appear blue
b) The beta-galactosidase gene should be inactivated
c) Gene of interest should insert into the ampicillin-R gene
d) White plasmids have died after ampicillin exposure

20) How does telomerase function?

a) An DNA template is used to elongate the telomere repeat sequence
b) It elongates the repeat sequence in the 3’ to 5’ direction
c) The 5’ end of the parental DNA strand is extended
d) It has reverse transcriptase function

21) What is true of homologous recombination?

a) Nucleotides can get deleted
b) Ku protein is involved
c) Strand invasion occurs with the invading strand 3’ end
d) A homologous sequence of <15 nucleotides is located

22) Meiosis involves:

a) Formation of 2 diploid daughter cells
b) The division of two diploid cells
c) Recombination of chromosomes
d) One cell division

23) What is depurination?

a) The release of cytosine and adenine from DNA
b) Conversion of cytosine to uracil
c) Conversion of uracil to guanine
d) The release of guanine and adenine from DNA
BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

24) What occurs during the initiation stage of transcription?

a) Shine-Dalgarno sequence sets the reading frame in eukaryotes
b) mRNA binds to the small ribosomal subunit
c) eIF4E binds to the poly(A) tail
d) IF3 bound to GTP binds to the small subunit

25) Which statement is true?

a) TATAAA box is prokaryotes
b) The holoenzyme RNA pol has the sigma factor
c) Eukaryotic DNA is generally transcribed into polycistronic mRNA
d) Exon splicing occurs in prokaryotes

26) Which statement is true?

a) Viscosity of DNA increases as converted from ds to ss
b) UV absorption decreases as DNA is converted from ds to ss
c) Solubility decreases as DNA is converted from ds to ss
d) The best wavelength to measure UV absorption is 260nm

27) Which of the following bacteria are naturally competent?

a) Streptococcus pneumoniae
b) Haemophilus influenzae
c) Both A and B
d) None of the above

28) The stop codons UAA, UAG and UGA…

a) Cause the growing protein to form a hairpin loop and become destabilised
b) Are bound by tRNAs that do not carry amino acids
c) Are recognised by release factors
d) Can all be bound by the same tRNA due to wobble base pairing

29) Which of the following are true differences between B and T cell receptors?
a) BCRs can only exist as antibodies while TCRs are always membrane bound
b) Diversity in BCRs only occurs prior to exposure to antigens and activation by T cells
c) BCRs are heterodimers as their alpha and beta chains are mirror images of each other
d) None of the above

30) Which of the following is true?

a) The IgE class has the same Fc portion as IgG
b) Both IgG and IgE are secreted as monomers
c) IgA is secreted as a pentamer
d) IgD is primarily recognised by mast cells in the allergic response

31) Regarding the heavy chain of the BCR, which of the following is correct?
a) The V, D, and J segments make up the variable regions
b) The variable regions can disassociate from the membrane and the molecule is now
called an antibody or immunoglobulin
BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

c) Is encoded by only V, D and J segments from the H chain loci

d) It forms disulphide bonds with the light chain

32) Which is true in relation to homologous and non-homologous recombination?

a) Homologous recombination uses the Ku protein
b) Non-homologous recombination uses the RecA protein
c) Non-homologous recombination uses strand invasion
d) None of the above

33) Homologous recombination is used in the following:

a) Double-stranded DNA breaks
b) Mitosis, when there are no DNA breaks
c) Gene knockouts
d) A and C

34) Which of the following is false?

a) DNA replication involves the use of enzymes such as helicase
b) Viruses requires hosts to replicate their DNA/RNA genomes, as they are obligate
intracellular parasites
c) DNA replication does not occur in bacteria as they only have circular DNA as their
genetic material
d) None of the above

35) The DNA polymerase III holoenzyme…

a) Has both 3’ to 5’ and 5’ to 3’ exonuclease activity
b) Has three subunits – an alpha, beta and theta subunit
c) Is the cells main replicase
d) Synthesises DNA in the 3’ to 5’ direction

36) Splicing joins together:

a) Two introns
b) Two exons
c) Two polypeptides
d) A DNA and an RNA molecule

37) Which of the following mechanisms of gene transfer in bacteria involves the use of a viral
intermediate?
a) Transduction
b) Transformation
c) Conjugation
d) Co-transformation

38) Renaturation of ssDNA to dsDNA results in which of the following?

a) Decreased viscosity
b) Increased viscosity and increased UV light absorption
c) A structure with fewer hydrogen bonds
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d) Decreased UV light absorption

39) Select the most correct answer; DNA must be linear when being processed through gel
electrophoresis because:
a) The concerned DNA is usually run with linear controls/standards
b) Super-coiled DNA and relaxed circular DNA move through the gel in a highly variable manner
c) DNA is not processed in a linear conformation
d) Both A and B are correct

40) Which situation would increase transcription in eukaryotes most?

a) SWI-SNF protein complex absent, not nudging nucleosome along + no acetylation of histone
tails
b) SWI-SNF protein complex present, nudging nucleosome along + no acetylation of histone
tails
c) SWI-SNF protein complex absent, not nudging nucleosome along + acetylation of histone
tails
d) SWI-SNF protein complex present, nudging nucleosome along + acetylation of histone tails

41) Which of the following is not a mechanism of VSG (variant surface glycoprotein) switching?
a) Homologous recombination between telomeres
b) Activation of another expression site
c) Switching of a constant region
d) Replacing the expressed gene with a gene copy that was initially silent

42) In relation to eukaryotic mRNA termination?

a) It occurs via an intrinsic hair loop sequence
b) Is Rho-dependant
c) Is Rho-independent
d) The mRNA is cleaved and then the 3’ poly A tail is added

43) Somatic cells do not contain telomerase at all while germ line cells do.
a) True
b) False

44) Which of the following would have the smallest Tm?

a) CCCCCCC
b) AAAAAAA
c) CCGGCGC
d) ACGACTT

45) In base excision repair which of the following is true?

a) DNA is repaired but shorter than originally
b) The phosphodiester bonds are removed by gycolases
c) Is used to repair thymine dimers
d) Detects mutations and flips the affected base outward if the base is present
BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

46) During gel electrophoresis, what is the DNA's distance from the wells, in order from farthest to
nearest?
a) Linear, supercoiled circle, nicked circle
b) Supercoiled circle, linear, nicked circle
c) Nicked circle, supercoiled circle, linear
d) Nicked circle, linear, supercoiled circle

47) Put the following steps of a Southern Blot in the correct order...
1. Add probes to investigate bands
2. Gel electrophoresis
3. Blot on nitrocellulose paper
4. DNA fragmentation via restriction enzymes
5. Fix the DNA onto the paper

a) 4, 2, 3, 1, 5
b) 4, 2, 3, 5, 1
c) 4, 5, 3, 2, 1
d) 5, 4, 2, 3, 1

48) Which is true?

a) In the presence of glucose and lactose the lac operon is transcribed heavily
b) When glucose is present in high amounts so is cAMP in high amounts
c) cAMP is crucial in activating CAP in order to expose the transcription promoter
d) In the presence of glucose and no lactose the lac operon is transcribed heavily

49) If ...1212121212121212... codes for leu and val and 121121121121121121 codes for leu, glu or
phe , which of the following is true?
a) 112 codes for phe
b) 211 codes for glu
c) 121 codes for val
d) 212 codes for leu

50) The target sequence which is recognized by transposons:

a) Is made up of single-stranded DNA.
b) Contains the sequence for the trasnsposase gene
c) Is cut out and discarded during transposition.
d) Is duplicated during transposition.

51) Which of the following statements are eukaryotic mRNA is true

a) A cap is added to their 5’ end
b) A poly A tail is added to their 3’ end
c) Each usually specifies a single protin
d) A and B
e) A, B and C
BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

52) Which of the following is TRUE?

a) PCR can alter DNA via site-specific mutated primers
b) The genomic library only contains transcribed genes
c) Comparative genome hybridisation can detect polymorphisms
d) Spotted arrays use in situ synthesis of probes 

53) ​Which statement relating to phosphodiester bonds is FALSE?

a) They are covalent
b) They occur between the 5’ OH and 3’ phosphate
c) They form linear polysaccharides
d) They are catalysed by a polymerase

54) Which of the following is NOT a major use of endonucleases?

a) Gene mapping
b) Synthesising cDNA
c) DNA profiling/fingerprinting
d) Gene cloning

55) Which of the following is TRUE regarding the chain termination method of DNA sequencing?
a) It involves a small amount of ddNTPs
b) 3’ OH groups prevent more bases from being added to a chain
c) Chains terminate when a dNTP is added to the strand
d) RNA polymerase is required

56) Which of the following is false of restriction enzymes?

a) Different restriction enzymes recognise different sequences
b) They are enzymes purified from bacteria
c) Type II endonucleases cleave close to their recognition site
d) EcoR1 restriction endonuclease recognise the sequence GATTTC

57) Which orders the steps of protein synthesis correctly?

a) A.A. activation, initiation, termination, elongation
b) Initiation, A.A. activation, elongation, termination
c) A.A. activation, initiation, elongation, termination
d) initiation, elongation, termination, A.A. activation

58) Which of the following is TRUE regarding proteasomes?

a) Correctly folds misfolded proteins
b) ATP-independent activity
c) Breaks down proteins into ~50 residue peptides
d) Recognises polyubiquitination

59) Which of the following is true?

a) Poly A tail is added to the pre-mRNA after the 5’ cap
BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

b) ~300 AA are added enzymatically to the 3’ end of mRNA

c) Pre-mRNA is not processed
d) Poly A tail functions as ‘attach here’ signal for ribosomes

60) Identify the correct statement regarding splicing

a) Intercistronic regions are located between 2 exons of a gene
b) Introns can be present in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes
c) Exons can be removed from mRNA
d) Introns are coding regions of a gene

61) Which of the following is TRUE?

a) Mutations often have no phenotypic impact on an organism
b) FISH is used to detect small point mutations in individuals
c) Germline mutations are found only in mutant cell descendants
d) Somatic mutations are more serious than germline mutations

62. Which is true about origins of replication?

A. Eukaryotes and prokaryotes have similar numbers of origins

B. They are the start site of genes for replication
C. These sequences attract initiator proteins
D. They are packed in chromatin in prokaryotes

63. The bacterial genome…

A. Cannot contain linear chromosomes

B. Has plasmids as the main form of genetic material
C. May have autonomously replicating plasmids
D. Has plasmids larger than chromosomes

64. Which is false about microarrays?

A. They require cDNA to be converted to mRNA

B. They use fluorescent probes to label
C. They measure relative expression
D. They can study thousands of genes at once

65. If a genome has 3 nucleotides to specify 81 amino acids, how many nucleotides are there per
codon?

A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. 5

66. Polyubiquitination…

A. Marks proteins for DNA repair

BMS1062 SWOTVAC Sessions

B. Marks proteins for endocytosis

C. Can occur in prokaryotes
D. Keeps proteins safe from proteasomes

67. Which is true regarding the lac operon?

A. It uses allolactose to sense glucose

B. It functions optimally in high levels of tryptophan
C. It uses CAP to inhibit transcription
D. It metabolises lactose

68. Which is true regarding the trp operon?

A. It includes 5 genes
B. It metabolises tryptophan
C. It is turned on in the presence of glucose
D. It is regulated by attenuation only

69. In RNA splicing…

A. GU is the 3’ splice site

B. The branch point is 15-45 bases upstream of the 3’ splice site
C. The spliceosome attaches to the promoter
D. There are 3 transesterification reactions

70. Which of the following is not a level of regulation?

A. Exocytosis
B. RNA transport
C. Chromatin structure
D. mRNA degradation

71. Which of the following is not a use of homologous recombination?

A. Repair of double-stranded breaks

B. DNA replication
C. Ensuring accurate chromosome segregation
D. Genetic exchange between homologous DNA

Answers:
1) C
2) C
3) A
4) D
5) A
6) B
7) D
8) A
9) B
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10) B
11) C
12) B
13) A
14) D (A is feedback repression)
15) B (1:2 and 3:4 stem and loop structures form)
16) B (CPSF, poly(A) polymerase are involved. RNA polymerase is involved with transcription)
17) A (C is Cockayne Syndrome)
18) C (recognition are 4-8 nucleotides long)
19) B
20) D (RNA template used. Elongation is 5’ to 3’. 3’ parental end is extended.)
21) C
22) C (Homologous sequence at least 15 nucleotides found)
23) D
24) B (Shine-Dalgarno sequence is in prokaryotes. eIF4E binds to 5’ cap. IF2 is bound to GTP)
25) B
26) D
27) C
28) C
29) D
30) B
31) D
32) D
33) D
34) C
35) C
36) B
37) A
38) D
39) D
40) D
41) C
42) D
43) B
44) B
45) D
46) B
47) B
48) C
49) D
50) Ignore (not part of this year’s unit)
51) E
52) A
53) B
54) B
55) A
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56) D
57) C
58) D
59) A
60) C
61) A
62) C
63) C
64) A
65) C
66) A
67) D
68) A
69) B
70) A
71) B