M1L1-2 200 QS

Biochemistry

What branch of science is defined as the study of chemical processes and substances within living organisms?

Genetics

What branch of science deals with hereditary genes, inheritance, and genetic variation in organisms?

Gene

What is the segment of DNA that contains instructions for building a specific functional product such as a protein or RNA?

Chromosome

What is the organized structure composed of a single long DNA molecule and associated proteins containing many genes?

Mutant

What term refers to an organism or cell that carries an altered, modified, or missing gene?

Wild Type

What term describes the typical, standard, or naturally occurring form of a gene or organism used as a control in experiments?

Epigenetics

What field of study investigates heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations to the underlying DNA sequence?

Enzyme

What functional protein acts as a biological catalyst to speed up chemical reactions in living organisms?

Nucleic Acid

What class of biopolymers includes DNA and RNA, which function to store and transmit genetic information?

Biomolecules

What molecules are produced by living organisms and include carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids?

Analytical Chemistry

Which subdiscipline of chemistry involved in biochemistry focuses on measuring chemical substances?

Organic Chemistry

Which subdiscipline of chemistry involved in biochemistry focuses on the study of carbon-containing compounds?

Physical Chemistry

Which subdiscipline of chemistry involved in biochemistry focuses on understanding energy and reaction rates?

Physiology

Which biological discipline integrated into biochemistry studies how living systems function?

X-ray Crystallography

What specific biochemical laboratory technique was used in 1953 to determine the double-helix structure of DNA?

Purification (Purifying the molecules)

In the first step of X-ray crystallography, what process must be performed on the target molecules before crystallization?

Crystallization (Crystallizing)

What step in X-ray crystallography involves arranging purified molecules into a repeating solid structure?

X-rays

During X-ray crystallography, what type of radiation is shot at the crystal structure?

X-ray diffraction

What physical phenomenon occurs when X-rays bounce off atoms in a crystal, producing a measurable pattern?

Gregor Mendel

Who is considered the father of genetics for his 19th-century experiments on pea plants?

Pea plants

What organism did Gregor Mendel use for his controlled inheritance experiments?

Law of Segregation

Which law of inheritance states that two alleles for a gene separate during gamete formation so that each gamete carries only one allele?

Law of Independent Assortment

Which law of inheritance states that genes for different traits are distributed to gametes independently of one another?

Sickle Cell Anemia (Sickle Cell Disease)

What specific genetic condition results from a single base mutation changing glutamic acid to valine in the hemoglobin protein?

Glutamic acid

In normal hemoglobin, which amino acid is present that gets substituted in sickle cell disease?

Valine

In sickle cell anemia, which hydrophobic amino acid replaces glutamic acid in the hemoglobin protein?

Molecular Genetics

Which modern subfield of genetics focuses on the structure and function of genes at the molecular/DNA level?

DNA Methylation

What common chemical tag addition to DNA silences gene expression without changing the DNA sequence?

Population Genetics

Which modern subfield of genetics explores gene variation within populations and how gene frequencies change over time?

Malaria

The sickle cell gene remains common in certain populations because it offers evolutionary protection against which infectious disease?

BRCA1

What specific human gene functions to repair damaged DNA and prevent cancer, but increases breast/ovarian cancer risk when mutated?

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

What common molecular technique amplifies DNA sequences to help detect mutations like those in the BRCA1 gene?

The missing or altered gene (Gene function)

Comparing a wild type organism with a mutant organism under identical conditions allows scientists to infer the role of what?

Biochemical assay

What type of laboratory assay measures enzyme activity or protein quantity?

Pharmacogenomics

What diagnostic application combines genetics and biochemistry to monitor individual responses to drugs based on genetic makeup?

1930s

During which decade did molecular biology formally begin as a distinct multidisciplinary science?

Reductionist philosophy (Reductionism)

What philosophical approach holds that complex biological systems can be understood by breaking them down into their smallest molecular components?

Clock Analogy

What structural analogy is used in the text to describe the reductionist view of taking apart a complex system?

Nucleic acids and Proteins

Name the two fundamental classes of biological macromolecules that serve as the main focus of molecular biology.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

What macromolecule serves as the genetic material stored inside the nucleus of eukaryotic cells?

Ribonucleic acid (RNA)

What macromolecule carries genetic code from the nucleus to the cytoplasm to be translated into proteins?

Enzymes

What specific class of proteins acts as catalysts to speed up biological chemical reactions like DNA replication?

Hemoglobin

Which protein acts as a transporter moving oxygen in red blood cells?

Regulators / Transcription factors

What group of proteins controls gene expression by binding to DNA to turn genes on or off?

ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay)

What immunoassay test uses antigen-antibody binding to detect specific disease marker proteins in diagnostics?

Macromolecule

What general term refers to a very large molecule assembled from smaller chemical units called monomers?

Friedrich Miescher

Who discovered a substance in white blood cells in 1869 that he called "nuclein"?

Nuclein

What original name did Friedrich Miescher give to the substance now known as DNA?

Frederick Griffith

Who discovered in 1928 that a "transforming principle" from heat-killed bacteria could alter live bacteria?

Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty

Which trio of scientists in 1944 proved that DNA, and not protein, was the transforming principle?

James Watson, Francis Crick, and Rosalind Franklin

Which three scientists are famously credited with describing the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953?

Restriction Enzymes

What molecular tools discovered in 1970 act as "molecular scissors" that cut DNA at specific nucleotide sequences?

Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer

Who developed recombinant DNA technology in 1973 using restriction enzymes to cut and paste genes?

Frederick Sanger

Who developed the first major method of direct DNA sequencing in 1977?

Kary Mullis

Who invented the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique in 1983?

2001

In what year was the first complete draft of the Human Genome Project released?

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)

What sequencing technology developed between 2005 and 2011 made whole-genome sequencing vastly faster and cheaper?

Genomics

What subfield of modern biology is dedicated to studying the entire genome of an organism?

Transcriptomics

What subfield of modern biology focuses on studying the complete set of RNA transcripts produced by a cell?

Proteomics

What subfield of modern biology focuses on the large-scale study of the complete set of proteins in a cell?

The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

What foundational concept explains the directional flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein?

DNA Replication

What process describes the synthesis of a duplicate DNA molecule from an existing DNA template during cell division?

Transcription

What process describes the synthesis of an RNA molecule from a DNA template?

Translation

What process describes the synthesis of a protein using an mRNA sequence as a template?

S phase (Synthesis phase)

During which specific phase of the cell cycle does DNA replication occur?

Semi-conservative replication

What mode of replication describes DNA synthesis where each new double helix consists of one parent strand and one daughter strand?

Origin of replication

What specific location on a DNA molecule marks the beginning of DNA replication?

RNA Polymerase

What primary enzyme is responsible for unwinding DNA and synthesizing new RNA during transcription?

Uracil

In RNA molecules, which pyrimidine nitrogenous base replaces thymine?

Initiation, Elongation, Termination

Name the three sequential steps/phases involved in both transcription and translation.

Nucleus

In eukaryotic cells, inside which organelle does transcription take place?

Ribosome

Cellular organelle where translation takes place in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

Codon

What is a three-base sequence on mRNA that specifies a particular amino acid?

tRNA (Transfer RNA)

What transfer molecule carries a specific amino acid and contains a three-base sequence complementary to an mRNA codon?

Anticodon

What is the three-base matching sequence on a tRNA molecule called?

Absence of a nuclear membrane (both occur in the cytoplasm)

Why can prokaryotes perform translation simultaneously with transcription in the same compartment?

Viruses (RNA viruses / Retroviruses)

What special class of biological entities uses RNA-to-RNA replication or reverse transcription to copy genetic material?

Reverse Transcriptase

What enzyme synthesizes complementary DNA (cDNA) using an RNA template?

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Give an example of a human retrovirus that utilizes reverse transcriptase.

RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction)

What diagnostic laboratory technique converts viral RNA into cDNA before amplifying it for detection?

Protein to Protein / Protein to RNA / Protein to DNA (Unknown transfers)

Which direction of information flow in the Central Dogma is considered purely hypothetical and has never been observed in nature?

Carbon

What chemical element is mandatory in all organic biomolecules?

Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, Nucleic Acids

Name the four major classes of organic biomolecules essential to life.

Carbohydrates

What class of biomolecules serves as the primary and immediate source of cellular energy?

Cellulose

What carbohydrate polymer forms the structural rigidity of plant cell walls?

Monosaccharide

What single sugar unit represents the monomer building block of complex carbohydrates?

Amino Acid

What is the monomer building block of proteins?

Fatty acids and Glycerol

What two distinct components form the basic building blocks of simple lipids like triglycerides?

20

How many standard amino acids are used to build proteins in living systems?

Primary Structure

What structural level of a protein describes its linear chain sequence of amino acids?

Secondary Structure

What structural level of a protein includes localized alpha-helices and beta-pleated sheets?

Tertiary Structure

What structural level refers to the complete three-dimensional folding pattern of a single polypeptide chain?

Quaternary Structure

What structural level refers to the assembly and interaction of multiple polypeptide subunits in a functional protein?

Hemoglobin

What structural multi-subunit protein in red blood cells exhibits a quaternary structure consisting of four subunits?

Nucleotide

What monomer unit consists of a 5-carbon sugar, a nitrogenous base, and a phosphate group?

CH2O (or (CH2O)n)

What general empirical formula represents most simple carbohydrates?

Saccharon

What Greek word meaning "sugar" is the origin of the term saccharide?

Glucose

Which simple monosaccharide is the primary metabolic energy source for human brain cells?

ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate)

What high-energy molecule synthesized during cellular respiration serves as the direct energy currency of the cell?

Cytoplasm

In which cellular compartment does the initial metabolic pathway of glycolysis occur?