Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani

Intro to Mol Bio and Immuno (PHA F215); Mid-Sem Exam (Open Book), 05th March 2021
Maximum marks: 50

Q1. You identify a disease of epidermal cells in mice in which Gene A is not transcribed. Further analyses reveals that
the sequence of Gene A in affected and normal mice is the SAME. Identify the reason that could explain why Gene A is
NOT transcribed in the epidermal cells of the affected mice. [3]
Q2. A new type of pathogen has been discovered who is able to spread infection after DNAase treatment but becomes
inactivated with RNAase treatment. Can you name an actual pathogen of this type? How it shows this type of behavior?
[2]

Q3. If due to some problem, in a cell all the nucleoside triphosphate converts into nucleoside, what would be the effect on
the cell? [2]

Q4. A bacteria was grown on N15 containing media for a long time. After transferring to N14 media and after 2 generation
of replication, if you see the following, what would be the conclusion: [5]
i) all the DNA was N15 type
ii) 1/4 of DNA N15 type, 3/4 is N14 type
iii) 1/2 of DNA is hybrid (N14/N15 mix); 1/2 N14 type
iv) all the DNA is of hybrid (N14/N15 mix) type
v) all the DNA is of N14 type

Q5. One strand of a section of DNA isolated from E. coli reads:

5` - GTAGCCTACCCATAGG - 3`
i) Suppose mRNA is transcribed from this DNA as a template. What will be the sequence of the mRNA?
ii) What would be the peptide sequence if translation started exactly at the 5` end (assume no start codon is required)?
iii) How many different reading frames are encoded in this mRNA? Name the peptides. [1+2+2]

Q6. The following is the DNA sequence for the transcription initiation region of the PKA gene. Part of the promoter region,
which is placed upstream of the gene, is shown and boxed. Transcription begins at and includes the bold and underlined
T/A base pair.

5’-TGGACTGCTATAATAGCAGTTCTGCTGAGATGATGGCCATACGGCCATGGTTCTTAAAGT-3’ TOP

3’-ACCTGACGATATTATCGTCAAGACGACTCTACTACCGGTATGCCGGTACCAAGAATTTCA-5’ BOTTOM

a) Indicate the template strand (Top or Bottom) for transcription. [1]

b) Write the first 6 nucleotides of the nascent PKA mRNA. [1]
c) Write the first 3 amino acids of the newly synthesized PKA protein (start codon is required). [3]

Q7. Below is a schematic of gene Y, which encodes protein Y. The promoter region is indicated by the dotted
box. Transcription begins immediately following the promoter.
Transcriptional terminator
Promoter
5’
Exon 1 Intron 1 Exon 2 Intron 2 Exon 3
3’

1 100 2100 3100 4100 5100 base pairs

1100
Positions 200-203 = Start codon Positions 4800-4802 = Stop codon

a. The transcript first produced by this gene would be approximately how many nucleotides long? [1]
b. Two different transcripts are produced from this gene, one is approximately 2000 nucleotides long, the other
is approximately 3000 nucleotides long. Explain how two different transcripts can be produced from this
gene. [2]
c. Assume each transcript produces a protein. Given your answer above and the diagram, what is the
approximate size of the two proteins produced from this gene? [3]
 Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani
Intro to Mol Bio and Immuno (PHA F215); Mid-Sem Exam (Open Book), 05th March 2021
Maximum marks: 50

Q8. You observe that some Gene X is transcribed both in epidermal and muscle cells to produce a nascent / primary mRNA
transcript. This mRNA directs the synthesis of two different proteins in these two different cell types.
o In the muscle cells Gene X encodes a protein (120 amino acids long) that functions as a cytoplasmic protein
o In epidermal cells, Gene X encodes a protein (100 amino acids long) that functions as a cell membrane protein.
Explain this phenomenon. [3]

Q9. Shown below is the complete DNA sequence of a gene that encodes a short peptide. Also shown is the sequence of
the mRNA synthesized from this gene.
Genomic DNA sequence:
5'-AGCTCATGTGCGAGTCCTGACGCTGACTAGG-3'
3'-TCGAGTACACGCTCAGGATTGCGACTGATCC-5'
Mature mRNA sequence (G* = G cap):
5'-G*UCAUGUGCGAACGCUGACUAGGAAAAAAAA....-3'
Answer the following questions: [2×4=8]
i) In the genomic DNA sequence shown above, draw a box around each of the two exons in the gene.
ii) How many amino acids are there in the peptide encoded by this gene? Name them.
iii) This DNA and RNA are prokaryotic in origin. True or false? Why?
iv) If you want to make this mRNA into double stranded cDNA, what would be the sequence of both the primers (primer
length - 4 nt)?

Q10. Sodium hydroxide degrades both proteins and nucleic acids, while phenol denatures proteins but not nucleic acids.
In the transformation experiments performed by Griffith with Streptococcus pnemoniae, what result would be expected if
an extract of S-strain bacteria was treated with phenol? What would be expected if it was treated with sodium hydroxide?
[3]

Q11. You are studying a protein that you suspect functions to recruit other components of the licensing protein complex
for eukaryotic DNA replication. Describe how you would assay the protein for this activity. [5]

Q12. You are asked to characterize the genome of a newly isolated virus, and to determine whether it is composed of DNA
or RNA. After using nucleases to completely degrade the sample to its constituent nucleotides, you determine the
approximate relative proportions of nucleotides. The results of your assay are as follows:

0% dGTP 15% GTP 0% dCTP 33% CTP 0% dATP 22% ATP 0% dTTP 30% UTP

What can you conclude about the composition of the viral genome? [3]

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