Biochemistry Review Flashcards
Blood is maintained at a pH of about 7.4 through several mechanisms, such as the carbonic acid/bicarbonate buffering system and respiration removing carbon dioxide from the body. A laboratory measures the blood pH and bicarbonate ion concentration of trained endurance athletes performing high-intensity exercise under hypoxic conditions and normal conditions. The bicarbonate ion concentration drops under hypoxic conditions compared to normal conditions. What happens to the athletes’ blood pH under hypoxic conditions?
Lower
A hospital lab indicates a urine sample pH of 5.0 in a patient presenting with symptoms of kidney stones. What is the actual hydrogen ion concentration of the urine sample?
10^-5 M
The concentration of hydrogen ions [H+] in a solution is 1 x 10^-7 moles/L. What is the pH of the solution?
7
(pH of a solution can be calculated as: pH = -log[H+] = -log[H+]
Which of the following levels of protein organization involves the interaction between multiple protein chains?
Quaternary
When a protein is denatured, which of the following happens to its function?
It ceases to function
What are proteins made of?
Amino acids
What pair of functional groups is found in each of the 20 amino acids?
Amino group and carboxyl group
What amino acid is composed of a bulky structure that includes aromatic residues?
Tryptophan
What kind of bond is present between two amino acids?
Peptide bond
A peptide bond forms through which process?
Dehydration synthesis
When a peptide bond forms between two peptides to make a polypeptide, what does the carboxylic acid group of the amino acid bind to on another amino acid make this peptide bond?
Amino group
Hemoglobinopathies may affect the structure or production of hemoglobin molecules.
Which of these diseases is divided by type, based on alpha and beta subunits, with disease severity ranging from mild to incompatible with life?
Thalassemia
Allosteric moderators influence the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin.
Which moderator is known for T-state stabilization under hypoxic conditions?
Bisphosphoglycerate
What phenomenon is observed with the binding and dissociation of oxygen in hemoglobin?
Positive cooperativity
A protein in erythrocytes binds to oxygen and transports it from the lungs to tissues. How many oxygen molecules can be transported by a single molecule of hemoglobin?
4
Which part of hemoglobin binds to oxygen?
Heme group
Statins treat high cholesterol levels, placing them among the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. Some statins, like atorvastatin and simvastatin, are primarily metabolized by CYP450 enzyme CYP3A4. Other statins, like pravastatin, are not significantly metabolized by CYP3A4. Cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant, is a strong inhibitor of CYP3A4. A patient receiving cyclosporine presents with high cholesterol. What statin regimen is best for this patient?
Pravastatin
What substance is output by the liver following its metabolism of toxic ammonium ions?
Urea
Where in the body is the cytochrome p450 protein found in the highest concentration?
Liver
What bleeding disorder is characterized by a deficiency of factor VIII?
Hemophilia A
What is the main function of fibrinogen in the blood coagulation cascade?
Initial blood clot formation
What is the primary function of osteoclasts in relation to the structure and function of bone?
Reabsorption of bone
What do osteoblasts manufacture during the bone formation process?
Osteocalcin
A patient presents with a disease caused by the destruction of beta-cells of the pancreas and hyperglycemia.
What serum glucose level is likely to be observed?
150 mg/DL
What outcome related to alpha-cells is likely to result due to type I diabetes?
Increased glucagon secretion
A patient with diabetes demonstrates improper production of insulin. What consequence may occur?
Decreased glucose entry into muscle
A patient consumed a well-balanced meal several hours ago. What occurs inside liver tissue as a result of the time lapsed after eating?
Gluconeogenesis
A patient rests for 20 minutes after consuming a well-balanced meal. What occurs inside muscle tissue during this process?
Glucose entry
Multiple pathways enable energy currency to be derived from ingested food; this currency fuels vital cellular functions. What catabolic process results in the greatest amount of this currency?
Cellular respiration
Congestive heart failure is a large public health burden that may be treated with several types of hormones. Valsartan/sacubitril is a promising treatment for congestive heart failure. This medication degrades neprilysin, a peptidase that targets vasoactive peptides such as angiotensin. How does angiotensin cause a cellular response?
Initiating a signal transduction cascade and activating second messengers
Why are the target receptors of steroids often found within the nucleus of a cell?
Steroids alter gene expression
What system is responsible for the majority of hormone secretion and regulation in the body?
Endocrine
Improper activity of an epidermal growth factor receptor at the cell membrane may result in cancer. Which type of receptor may be involved?
Enzyme-linked receptor
A hormone binds to an adrenoreceptor during the “flight or fight” response. Which type of receptor facilitates this process?
G-protein-coupled receptor
A ligand binds to an external domain. A stepwise process ensues, resulting in a change in the electrical properties of the cell. Which type of receptor facilitates this process?
Ionotropic receptor
A ligand binds to a transmembrane protein and causes autophosphorylation of tyrosine in the cytoplasmic domain. This creates a binding site for effector proteins. What ligand may participate in this process?
Growth factors
A signaling molecule binds to a cell membrane receptor. In a stepwise process, the alpha subunit of the receptor dissociates from the beta and gamma subunits. Which portion of this receptor activates a target protein, as exemplified by the stimulation of adenylyl cyclase?
Alpha
The cytoplasmic face of a sodium-potassium pump has sodium bound and becomes phosphorylated. What is directly induced by this event?
Conformational change
Vesicles containing neurotransmitters are tethered to the plasma membrane. Their release is triggered by calcium. What type of transport is being performed?
Bulk transport
Carrier proteins facilitate solute transfer across the cell membrane. Which of these structures carries two different molecules in opposite directions?
Sodium potassium ATPase
The sodium-potassium pump of the cell membrane uses ATP to establish a transmembrane electrical potential, where the extracellular environment is more positive than the intracellular environment. What form of transport is performed when anything positively charged attempts to flow down this established gradient?
Secondary active transport
Which moiety of the plasma membrane typically demonstrates both intracellular and extracellular orientation?
Phospholipid head
Adenosine triphosphatases (ATPases) are ion pumps that span the lipid bilayer. Like all proteins, ATPases are composed of many amino acids. Where would you expect to find the most isoleucine residues in an ATPase?
Interacting with the hydrophobic lipids
What is the phospholipid bilayer structure comprised of, making it “dual in nature”?
Hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail
What is the main function of the phospholipid bilayer in the cell membrane?
Protection
What is the main function of proteins in the cell membrane that create membrane channels?
Cellular transport
Insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) is a promising target for therapeutics to treat type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. A kinetic study found that 1 mM ATP inhibits this reaction, but 1 mM magnesium relieves this inhibition. The Michaelis constant (KM) of the reaction in the absence of ATP and magnesium is approximately 2M. What might the KM be in the presence of ATP and in the presence of ATP and magnesium?
ATP: 3M, ATP and magnesium: 2M
The catalytic rate (rate limiting step) determines the rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction in which of the following situations?
Creating product with free enzyme
Considering the Michaelis-Menten equation, what is the value for the Michaelis constant (Km)?
1/2 V max
What category of enzyme is responsible for moving a functional group from one molecule to another?
Transferase
Sugars are easiest for the body to break down into quick energy. Which enzyme, found in saliva, can be used to obtain sugars from carbohydrates as soon as food enters the body?
Amylase
What process is taking place when aspirin is used to reduce the activity of the enzyme responsible for inflammation?
Enzyme inhibition
Once a substrate binds to the active site of the enzyme, what happens to the rate of the reaction?
Speeds up
Resveratrol, a compound found in red wine and grapes, may have anticancer properties. A laboratory study of resveratrol in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines found that resveratrol activates an enzyme called sirtuin 1. Sirtuin 1 is a negative regulator of a kinase cascade that includes phosphatidylinositol 3’-kinase (PI3K) and AKT, a kinase downstream of PI3K. What effects does resveratrol treatment have on post-translational modifications of PI3K and AKT?
Decreased phosphorylation
What is the most common functional group added during post-translational modification?
Phosphate
Which post-translational modification is one of the most important and also non-reversible?
Proteolysis
A molecule is composed of a five-carbon sugar, a phosphate group, and four different nitrogenous bases. How can the structure of a molecule composed through polymerization of these units be described for eukaryotes?
Condensed
How many hydrogen bonds are formed between guanine and another of the four bases in a polynucleotide molecule?
3
Two strands of DNA are arranged in an antiparallel fashion. What is positioned across from the 5’ end of one strand?
3’ end of the opposite strand
Which of DNA bases can pair with adenine?
Thymine
What is composed of two polynucleotide molecules intertwining?
DNA
What replaces thymine when DNA is translated into RNA?
Uracil
Which type of mutation causes sickle cell disease?
Missense
How many sequence permutations are formed due to the degeneracy of the central dogma process?
64
What sequence of units marks the most common beginning of a protein sequence?
AUG
How many units compose the groups that specify amino acids during the central dogma process?
3
How many different base pairs have the potential to form a codon during the central dogma process?
4
A molecule enables RNA polymerase to bind to eukaryotic DNA. Where does this binding occur?
TATA box
What process protects the 5’ end of a newly formed mRNA molecule from degradation?
Addition of 7-methylguanosine
Which transcription factor has a TATA-binding protein?
TFIID
What enzyme facilitates the three-step process that generates tRNA?
RNA polymerase III
What enzyme facilitates the three-step process that generates mRNA?
RNA polymerase II
What describes the complementary base pairing arrangement of a double-stranded helical polymer?
2 hydrogen bonds between 1 purine and 1 pyrimidine
During what phase is a double-stranded helical polymer compacted with scaffolding proteins?
Interphase
What basic unit, composed by a double-stranded helical polymer and its associated proteins, forms chromatin?
Nucleosome
What associates with a double-stranded helical polymer to facilitate compaction?
Histome
What binds to a double-stranded helical polymer and is crucial for its formation of higher-order structures, such as the solenoid and zigzag model?
H1
What genome is organized in the nucleus?
Eukaryotic genome
What must regulatory elements bind to for transcription to occur in eukaryotic cells?
TATA box
What codon is responsible for starting the process of translation?
AUG
What does the transcription process produce?
Antiparallel complementary RNA strand
HER2 is a well-known proto-oncogene. The HER2 gene encodes a tyrosine kinase receptor called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). HER2 has roles in cell growth and cell division, and HER2 overexpression has been reported in many types of human cancers. HER2 dimerization leads to autophosphorylation, which leads to the activation of HER2. Given this information, how might a laboratory target HER2 to develop a novel treatment for cancer?
HER2 inhibitor
The RAS genes are the most frequently mutated oncogenes observed in human cancer. RAS is part of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, and the downstream effects of MAPK signaling are cell cycle progression. RAS exists in a non-active form bound to GDP and an active form bound to GTP. The transition between RAS-GDP and RAS-GTP is regulated by guanine exchange factors and GTPase-activating proteins. A mutant RAS protein is identified as insensitive to cytosolic GAP. What effects will this mutant RAS protein have if left unchecked?
Activate MAPK signaling and cause cell proliferation
What process involves the entire protooncogene jumping from one position to another in the genome under the control of promoter?
Translocation
How do tumor suppressor genes contribute to a reduction in cancer?
Stop cell cycle progression
Tumor suppressor genes utilize which of the following mechanisms to slow or prevent the development of cancer?
Apoptosis
What type of event activates a protooncogene?
Chromosomal rearrangement
A cancer-associated variant has been discovered in a sequence of regulatory DNA. Which type of sequence is most likely to be mutated if it recruits RNA polymerase?
Transcription factor
A cancer-associated variant has been discovered in a sequence of regulatory DNA. Which type of sequence is most likely to be mutated if activation and repression functions of a multi-subunit assembly operate during both initiation and elongation?
Mediator coactivator
A cancer-associated variant has been discovered in a sequence of regulatory DNA. Which type of sequence is most likely to be mutated if abnormal silencing of tumor suppressors has occurred?
Long non-coding RNA
Mutation of a regulatory sequence has occurred. Which type of sequence is most likely to be mutated if DNA methylation targeting has become aberrant?
Non-coding RNA
Mutation of a regulatory sequence has occurred. Which type of sequence is most likely to be mutated if a failure to mobilize and modify nucleosomes occurs?
Chromatin regulator
What target might a researcher explore if they want to prevent release of RNA polymerase from a transcript?
Rho
Which subunit of this RNA polymerase has demonstrated mutations that account for rifamycin-resistant tuberculosis strains?
Beta
Which structure of RNA polymerase is prevent from forming when fidaxomicin is administered for a Clostridium difficile infection?
Open complex
Which part of RNA polymerase contains N-terminal and C-terminal domains that recognize the UP-element on the DNA molecule?
Alpha two
Which part of RNA polymerase pairs with the beta subunit to form the active site?
Beta prime
Based on the structural classification of hormones, which of the following hormones is derived from cholesterol?
Glucocorticosteroids
What hormone class is derived from lipids?
Steroid
What hormone is responsible for stimulated gamete production?
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
What characteristic is associated with hydrophilic hormones?
Targets cell surface receptors
What type of hormone is glucagon when classified according to the endocrine gland where it is synthesized?
Pancreatic hormone
Which hormone has a complex structure and a half-life of 60-90 minutes?
Steroid
Why do steroid hormones have an extended half-life?
Hydrophobicity