(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 1 of 9 pages
LIFS1901 General Biology I Final Examination Fall 2019
Instructions:
Before reading the next instruction, double-click on the header region above and enter
your name and student ID number so that they will appear on every page. Then,
double-click on this instruction to return to the main page area.
Answer all questions. Total marks: 50. “End of Paper” appears on the last page of this
paper.
Enter answers in the spaces provided. Answers will cause generation of additional lines
and pages. This is not a problem.
To make sure that you do not lose your answers due to computer failure, save this file
frequently as you answer the questions.
When you save this file, please keep the file name “LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam
Paper” unchanged. When you upload your file through Canvas Assignments, your name
will be automatically added to the name of your file.
Save this file after finalizing your answers and upload it to Canvas Assignments by 12
noon today (Dec 17, 2019).
If you have a query about an exam question during the exam, email [email protected].
If clarification of an exam question is found necessary during the exam, it will be posted
on Canvas Announcements.
Questions start on the next page
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 2 of 9 pages
Read the following story and answer all the questions about it.
On a winter Sunday when a geneticist was having barbecue with his friends at a popular
barbecue place, he saw an interesting kind of insects that he had never seen before. These
insects were like houseflies, but had a few obvious differences in form and function. The
most conspicuous difference was that their eyes were purple instead of red. Another
difference was that they could not fly. They hopped around the warm barbecue place feeding
on barbecued meats left behind by people. Interestingly, they could stay on the burning hot
barbecue stoves feeding for a few seconds before hopping away. Regular houseflies would be
killed by the heat if they do that. These novel insects’ inability to fly and resistance to heat
were apparently due to their particularly thick and heavy exoskeleton (shell). These insects
were very localized to the barbecue place and could not be found anywhere else nearby. The
geneticist was very sure that these insects belonged to a novel species and decided to study
them. He caught a few of them and put them inside a paper cup with a little barbecued meat
for their food. To prevent them from hopping away, he put a plastic lid on. The straw hole in
the lid allowed air circulation for their breathing. He then put the cup next to his hot water
bag in his backpack and brought them back to his lab. In his lab, he just left the cup of insects
on his bench without doing anything because he was busy with his ongoing research. A week
later when he had a chance to look at the insects, he found that they were already dead.
Beside the dead bodies were a few eggs, which had obviously been laid by the insects before
they died. The geneticist transferred each of these eggs together with small pieces of cooked
meat into a beaker and put the beakers into a 37°C incubator before getting back to his
research work. In a week’s time, the eggs first turned into larvae, then pupae, and eventually
adult insects.
Question 1 (2 marks): Name all the cellular processes through which an insect egg turns into
an adult insect.
Answer: cell division, differentiation, programmed death
Three days later, an unusual thing happened – the lone insects in the beakers laid eggs!
Question 2 (2 marks): What kind of reproduction did these insects carried out? Why was it
so unusual?
Answer: asexual, most insects cannot undergo asexual reproduction
The geneticist was very excited about this. As an initial step in understanding the genetics of
this novel insect species, he tried to find out the number of chromosomes in its cells. To
achieve this purpose, he first waited until the eggs hatched into larvae. He then took some
cells out from an insect larva, and then put them on a glass slide, stained them, and watched
them using a microscope.
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 3 of 9 pages
Question 3 (1 mark): The number of chromosomes in a cell can be easily counted only at a
particular phase of the cell cycle. Which phase is that?
Answer: M
Question 4 (2 marks): It is easier to find cells carrying observable chromosomes from an
insect larva than from an adult insect. Why?
Answer: more cells are dividing in insect larva since it is rapidly growing
Question 5 (1 mark): To visualize the chromosomes of a cell, it is the best to stain a
particular class of biological substances. Which class of biological substances is that?
Answer: DNA
From this study, the geneticist found that each cell of this insect contained only two
chromosomes. These two chromosomes were of different lengths and have different bands.
Question 6 (1 mark): Did this result show that this insect species is haploid, diploid,
polyploid, or aneuploid, or none of the above?
Answer: haploid
The geneticist was even more excited by this result and decided to study this novel insect
species seriously. He set out by growing a large population of it in his lab. With the belief that
this insect species had some specific temperature requirement for growth, he spared a
separate temperature-controlled room for growing it.
Question 7 (2 marks): What might be the specific temperature requirement for growth of
this insect species and what event(s) might have told the geneticist about this requirement?
Answer: higher than regular air temperature, this insect species was localized to warm
barbecue place and not found anywhere else
The insects were propagated in large tanks that had no cover but were tall enough to prevent
the insects from hopping out of them. To understand the nutrition requirements of these
insects, the geneticist provided different kinds of food to them and found that they only ate
meats.
Question 8 (1.5 marks): Is this insect species autotrophic? Why or why not?
Answer: no, an autotroph does not acquire organic nutrients from meats
Question 9 (1.5 marks): Is this insect species saprophytic? Why or why not?
Answer: no, a saprophyte does not intake food in bulk
The geneticist went on to extract DNA from one of the novel insects and obtain the DNA
sequence. He compared the novel insect’s DNA sequence with the DNA sequences of the
following 7 organisms: pneumococcus (a bacterium), frog, shrimp, earthworm, bread-mold (a
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 4 of 9 pages
fungus), mosquito, amoeba (a protozoan).
Question 10 (4 marks): Based on your knowledge about the relationships between different
groups of organisms, list out these 7 organisms according to their expected levels of DNA
sequence similarity with the novel insect species, starting from the one having the highest
similarity to the one having the lowest.
Answer: Highest similarity (1) mosquito
(2) shrimp
(3) earthworm
(4) frog
(5) bread mold
(6) amoeba
Lowest similarity (7) pneumococcus
To understand the genetic control of form and function in this novel insect species, the
geneticist made mutations in several novel insects using chemical and physical agents.
Question 11 (2 marks): Name a chemical agent and a physical agent that the geneticist can
use to achieve his purpose.
Answer: Chemical agent: PAH, nitrosamine, or another chemical mutagen
Physical agent: Gamma ray, X-ray or UV
After exposure to mutagens, some insects have tumors growing on their bodies.
Question 12 (2 marks): Name 2 classes of genes that could be mutated in these insects.
Answer: proto-oncogene, tumor suppressor gene
Some other mutagen-exposed insects gave birth to offspring with unusual features.
Question 13 (1 mark): What type(s) of cells certainly got mutations in these mutagen-
exposed insects?
Answer: germline cells
Question 14 (1 mark): What type(s) of cells in the unusual offspring certainly got
mutations?
Answer: all cells
Three offspring showed unusual features. One had white eyes, another one had thin body and
yet another one had long wings. When the thin-body mutant offspring and long-wing mutant
offspring beat their wings, they were able to stay in the air for a longer time than the original
novel insects, although they still could not actually fly upwards. The geneticist propagated
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 5 of 9 pages
the 3 kinds of mutant insects in separate tanks into large populations. To find out which genes
caused the mutant body features, he extracted DNA from these mutant insects, obtained the
DNA sequences, and compared them with the DNA sequence of the original novel insect.
When the DNA sequences of the original purple-eye insects and white-eye mutant insects
were compared, only one difference was found and it was in gene A.
Question 15 (2 marks): Propose a possible function of gene A that can explain the difference
in eye color of the insects.
Answer: coding for a protein that determines eye color by regulating eye pigment
synthesis (or another logical reason)
When the DNA sequences of original insects and thin-body mutant insects were compared,
only one difference was found and it was in the ribosome-binding site of gene B. It could be
told from the sequences that the ribosome-binding site of gene B in the original insects was a
strong one, whereas the ribosome-binding site of gene B in the thin-body mutant insects was
a weak one.
Question 16: In the underlined parts of each statement below, delete the incorrect choices to
make the statement correct:
a. (1 mark) An original insect produces equal amount of gene B mRNA as a thin-body
mutant insect.
b. (1 mark) An original insect produces higher amount of gene B-encoded protein than a
thin-body mutant insect.
Question 17 (2 marks): Propose a possible function of gene B that can explain the difference
in body features of original insects and thin-body mutant insects.
Answer: coding for a protein that increases body thickness by causing fat
accumulation (or another logical reason)
When the DNA sequences of original insects and long-wing mutant insects were compared,
only one difference was found and it was in the protein-coding region of gene C. The DNA
sequence of the beginning part of the protein-coding region of Gene C in original insects is
shown below, together with the amino acids in the protein that it codes for.
DNA: 5’..ATGCAGAAGTGCACCGGGTCATGCCCTAACTGG..3’
Protein encoded: MetGlnLysCysThrGlySerCysProAsnTrp..
The corresponding DNA sequence of Gene C in long-wing mutant insects is shown in
Question 18a. It differed from the original insects’ sequence by having one additional
nucleotide (the capitalized and italicized G).
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 6 of 9 pages
Question 18:
a. (2 marks) Using the genetic code, determine the amino acids encoded by long-wing
mutant insects’ DNA sequence and enter them below the DNA sequence.
Answer:
DNA: 5’..ATGCAGAAGTGCACCGGGTGCATGCCCTAACTGG..3’
Protein encoded: MetGlnLysCysThrGlyCysMetPro
b. (1 mark) What do we call the kind of mutation in Gene C of long-wing mutant insects
in regard to amino acid coding?
Answer: frameshift
c. (2 marks) Which is more likely a functional version of gene C, the one in original
insects or the one in long-wing mutant insects? Why do you think so?
Answer: original insects, the mutant protein is too short to be a functional protein
It is known that Gene C encodes a protein that binds to the transcription promoter of gene D,
and the expression of Gene D leads to wing elongation.
Question 19 (2 marks): Based on the information provided above, propose a possible
function of gene C that can explain the difference in body features of original insects and
long-wing mutant insects.
Answer: coding for a transcription repressor protein that decreases Gene D expression
The geneticist also compared the DNA sequence of the original novel insect species with that
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 7 of 9 pages
of housefly. The most dramatic difference found between them was that gene E was present
only in one copy in the housefly genome, but it was present in 100 copies in the genome of
the novel insect species.
Question 20 (3 marks): Suggest a function for gene E and how the difference in this gene
between the two insect species may cause a difference in their form and function.
Answer: coding for a protein that is responsible for exoskeleton synthesis (or another
logical reason that leads to a heavier and heat-resistant body or a different eye color).
Because of the additional copies of this gene in their genome, the novel insects express
this gene at higher levels, leading to the synthesis of thicker exoskeleton (or a different
eye color).
One day, a few insects were found flying around above the tanks in the special room for
growing the novel insect species. The geneticist caught them, inspected them carefully, and
confirmed that they indeed belonged to the novel species, but they had a thinner body as well
as longer wings. Wondering how these new double-mutant insects had been generated, the
geneticist checked all the growth tanks and discovered that there were a mixed population of
long-wing mutant insects and thin-body mutant insects in a tank that was supposed to keep
only thin-body mutant insects. Obviously, the careless lab attendant had put long-wing
mutants into that tank by mistake during a tank cleaning routine. With this discovery, the
geneticist came up with a hypothesis about the generation of the double-mutant insects. To
test his hypothesis, he purposefully mixed several long-wing mutant insects and thin-body
mutant insects into the same covered tank and looked for the free-flying double-mutant
insects to appear in it. To his dismay, all the insect offspring that he got in several attempts of
this experiment were either long-winged or thin-bodied; no double-mutant flying insect
appeared.
Then, he recalled that the careless lab attendant forgot to feed the insects for a few days two
weeks before the discovery of the double-mutant insects and that had killed almost all the
novel insects. With this event in mind, he came up with a new experimental strategy to get
the double-mutant insects. Thus, after putting long-wing mutant insects and thin-body mutant
insects into the same covered tank, he purposefully starved the insects for a few days. After a
week, he checked the tank and found that all the insects were dead, but many eggs had been
laid. He put back some food into the tank and waited for another week. When he checked the
tank again in the following week, he saw free-flying thin-body & long-wing double-mutant
offspring in it, as he wished to. He was very happy. Then he checked other offspring staying
inside the tank. He found also long-wing single mutants, thin-body single mutants, and even
regular-wing regular-body original insects. He counted and found that the numbers of
offspring of all the 4 types (i.e. regular body plus regular wings, regular body plus long
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 8 of 9 pages
wings, thin body plus regular wings, and thin body plus long wings) are very similar.
Question 21 (1 mark): What should be the process through which the 4 types of offspring
were produced at essentially the same number by the 2 single-mutant insects?
Answer: sexual reproduction
Question 22 (2 marks): What would you do to check if this process had really happened?
What would you expect to see if it did?
Answer: looking at starved insects, expecting that they mate with each other
Question 23 (2 marks): The geneticist’s experiment indicated that this process was induced
by starvation. What is the advantage for an organism to undergo this process when there are
unfavorable life situations such as starvation?
Answer: increasing genetic variation within the population and thus the chance of
getting offspring that survive better in unfavorable life situations
Question 24 (2 marks): What does the production of the 4 types of offspring at essentially
the same number tell us about the relative locations of Gene B (body-width-determining
gene) and Gene C (wing-length-determining gene) in the insect genome?
Answer: they are on separate chromosomes (or distant locations of the same
chromosome)
With the success in getting thin-body long-wing double-mutant insects by mixing and
starving thin-body mutant insects and long-wing mutant insects, the geneticist attempted to
use the same method to get another kind of double-mutant insects – ones having a thin body
& white eyes. So, he mixed thin-body mutant insects (with regular purple eyes) and white-
eye mutant insects (with a regular body) in a tank, starved them until eggs were laid.
According to his experience mentioned above, he expected to get equal number of insects
with the 4 possible types in terms of body width and eye color. However, that was not what
he got. He did get all 4 types of insects but their numbers were far from being equal. Out of
the 100 offspring that he got, 47 of them were identical to each of their single-mutant parents,
only 3 had his desired features – a thin body plus white eyes, and the remaining 3 had a
regular body plus regular wings.
Question 25 (1.5 marks): What does this result tell us about the relative locations of Gene A
(eye-color-determining gene) and Gene B (body-width-determining gene) in the insect
genome?
Answer: they are (at nearby locations) on the same chromosomes
Question 26 (1.5 mark): What event most probably happened that generated the double-
mutant insects having a thin body plus white eyes?
Answer: crossover
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
(LIFS1901)[2019](f)final~=cx5mue7^_98268.pdf downloaded by lhyuenae from http://petergao.net/ustpastpaper/down.php?course=LIFS1901&id=1 at 2023-03-12 12:07:13. Academic use within HKUST only.
Name (beginning with family name): Key
Student ID Number:
Page 9 of 9 pages
--- End of Paper ---
LIFS1901 2019 Fall Final Exam Paper
This study source was downloaded by 100000852140822 from CourseHero.com on 11-24-2022 02:55:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/111112378/LIFS1901-2019-Fall-Final-Exam-Paper-Keypdf/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
