Biology: Life on Earth
Audesirk & Audesirk
Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Chapter 14: Self-Quiz

  1. During recombinant DNA techniques, how are the bacterial cells that take up the plasmids isolated from those that do not?
    1. screening for restriction fragment length polymorphisms
    2. using antibiotic resistance plasmid genes and antibiotic-containing media
    3. sequencing each of the plasmids
    4. by use of the polymerase chain reaction
    5. using mRNA or information on the protein sequence

  2. How do you help ensure that each bacterium in a library contains only one gene-containing plasmid?
    1. Genes with more than one plasmid do not survive the antibiotic.
    2. You need to screen using a radioactive RNA probe.
    3. It is a matter of numbers and probability-far more bacteria than plasmids are mixed together.
    4. Only a small amount of calcium salt is used to facilitate the incorporation of the plasmid into the bacterial cell.
    5. This is why it is so important to spread the bacteria sparsely onto the culture dish.

  3. Knowing the DNA coding sequence of a gene would give you [A]; knowing the amino acid sequence of the coded protein would give you [B].
    1. [A] approximate information about the amino acid sequence; [B] approximate information about the DNA sequence
    2. [A] approximate information about the amino acid sequence; [B] precise information about the DNA sequence
    3. [A] precise information about the amino acid sequence; [B] approximate information about the DNA sequence
    4. [A] precise information about the amino acid sequence; [B] precise information about the DNA sequence
    5. none of the above

  4. Why is Thermus aquaticus so useful?
    1. It is necessary for the mass production of bacteria containing a plasmid with an inserted gene.
    2. It is used in automated DNA sequencing.
    3. It is used in RFLP mapping.
    4. It facilitates the polymerase chain reaction.
    5. It is used to create recombinant plasmids.

  5. How are RFLPs detected?
    1. by looking at the chromosome in the microscope
    2. by doing a standard Mendelian cross
    3. by observing DNA of different lengths on a gel
    4. by seeing with which plasmids they will combine
    5. by amplifying the DNA using PCR

  6. How would you identify the bacterium in a library if you knew the sequence of the protein it coded for?
    1. You would put radioactive protein on the petri dish.
    2. You would put a synthetic radioactive nucleotide probe, designed from the protein sequence and the genetic code, onto the petri dish.
    3. Because of the antibiotic, only the one of interest would survive.
    4. You would check to see whether a protein of the desired sequence is being synthesized by each bacterium.
    5. You would use DNA polymerase.

  7. All of the following are goals of biotechnology, except:
    1. generating economic benefits
    2. efficiently producing biologically important molecules
    3. improving agriculturally important food plants
    4. more effectively treating disease
    5. creating humans with higher intelligence levels

  8. Naturally occurring methods of recombining DNA within a species include
    1. mitosis
    2. drossing over during meiosis I only
    3. sexual reproduction only
    4. in-vitro fertilization
    5. crossing over and sexual reproduction

  9. Plasmids are defined as
    1. non-circular DNA segments in bacteria
    2. small, self-replicating DNA molecules in bacteria
    3. made of RNA
    4. found only in single copies within bacteria
    5. necessary for bacteria to reproduce

  10. In recombinant DNA research, the enzymes used to cut the genes are called
    1. DNA polymerases
    2. RNA polymerases
    3. spliceosomes
    4. replicases
    5. restriction enzymes

  11. Which of the following describes the fragments of DNA produced by restriction enzymes?
    1. They are circular in shape.
    2. They have fused ends.
    3. They have single-stranded "sticky ends."
    4. They are all the same length.
    5. They are useful genes needed for protein synthesis.

  12. An easily accessible and duplicated grouping of all the DNA of a particular organism is
    1. found in a chromosome
    2. called a "gene pool"
    3. possible only using bacterial DNA
    4. called a "polymerase chain reaction" assemblage
    5. called a "DNA library"

  13. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is useful for
    1. analyzing a person's fingerprints
    2. cutting DNA into many small pieces
    3. allowing restriction enzymes to cut DNA at palindromes
    4. creating recombinant plasmids
    5. making many copies of a small amount of DNA

  14. One advantage of making vaccines against viral disease using recombinant DNA technology is:
    1. The viral parts produced would be grossly defective.
    2. The viral parts produced would be perfectly formed.
    3. Only one or a few viral parts would be produced.
    4. All the viral parts would be produced.
    5. No bacteria would be involved.

  15. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) techniques are useful in
    1. isolating a gene whose location and function are already known
    2. prenatal diagnosis of certain genetic defects if the nucleotide sequence of the gene is known
    3. "DNA fingerprinting" in forensic medicine
    4. providing DNA for PCR analysis
    5. Both choices b and c are correct.

      

Designed in cooperation with Andrew Stull and Steven Brunasso.

Last Update - July 25, 1997

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