2021-DSE
BIO
PAPER 2
HONG KONG EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY
HONG KONG DIPLOMA OF SECONDARY EDUCATION EXAMINATION 2021
BIOLOGY PAPER 2
11:45 am - 12:45 pm (1 hour)
This paper must be answered in English
INSTRUCTIONS
d) There are FOUR sections, A, B, C and D in this Paper. Attempt ALL questions
in any TWO sections.
(2) Write your answers in the Answer Book DSE (C) provided. Start each question
(not part of a question) on a new page.
(3) Present your answers in paragraphs wherever appropriate.
(4) Illustrate your answers with diagrams wherever appropriate.
(5) The diagrams in this paper are NOT necessarily drawn to scale.
Not to be taken away before the
end of the examination session
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SECTION A Human Physiology: Regulation and Control
Answer ALL parts of the question.
1(a) Two young students, Alice and Billy, carried out a series of step-up exercises of increasing intensity. Each
exercise lasted for three minutes by stepping up and down on a wooden box at a fixed speed (i.e. 2, 6 or 10
step-ups per 10 seconds) as shown in the diagram below:
IV
step up step up step down step down
Their heart rates and blood lactate concentrations were measured at rest and immediately after each
exercise. Before the start of the next exercise, the students were allowed to rest until their heart rate and
blood lactate concentration returned to their levels at rest. The results are shown in the table below:
Blood lactate concentration
Intensity of exercise Heart rate (beat min-1)
_______ (mmol L~l)
(No. of step-ups per I Os)
Alice Billy Alice Billy
0 (at rest) 58 80 0.42 0.43
2 64 91 0.63 0.82
6 94 132 0.82 2.40
10 130 178 1.20 5.80
(•) Describe the overall effects of increasing the intensity of exercise on the heart rate and blood lactate
concentration. (1 mark)
(>i) According to your answers in (i), explain the change in blood lactate concentration during the
exercise. (3 marks)
(iii) According to your answer in (i), describe how the nervous system brings about the change in heart
rate during the exercise. (4 marks)
(iv) Alice is a trained athlete. Give two pieces of supporting evidence from the data. (2 marks)
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1(b) An investigation was carried out to study the effect of the water content of blood on the thermoregulatory
response. Volunteers were divided into two groups with the blood water content of one group maintained at
isotonic condition while the other group at hypertonic condition. They were asked to immerse their bodies
in hot water to mid-chest level for 30 minutes. The rate of sweating at the forehead and the body
temperature of the volunteers were continuously monitored throughout the experiment. The relationship
between these two parameters of the groups is shown in the graph below:
1.0
Isotonic group
J
0.8
/
0.6 I
z
/
0.4 Hypertonic group
/
f
00
02
z
0 - 1 I I “I ~I
36.0 36.5 37.0 37.5 38.0 38.5
Mean body temperature (°C)
(i) State the receptor and effector involved in the thermoregulatory response of the isotonic group.
(2 marks)
(ii) With reference to the thermoregulatory response of the isotonic group shown in the above graph,
explain why the change brought about by this response is regarded as an example of negative
feedback. (4 marks)
(Note: The nervous coordination of the response is not required.)
(iii) With reference to the above graph, deduce the effect of the hypertonic condition of blood on the
negative feedback mechanism of the thermoregulation of the volunteers. (2 marks)
(iv) The effect described in (iii) is beneficial in regulating water balance in the hypertonic group of
volunteers. Explain why. (2 marks)
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SECTION B Applied Ecology
Answer ALL parts of the question.
2(a) Conventional farming engages the use of artificial chemicals such as herbicides and insecticides while
organic farming does not. A survey comparing a conventional farm and an organic farm was conducted.
The survey involved random sampling in areas within the farm and the areas around the farm at different
times of a year. The data are shown in the table below:
Conventional farm Organic farm
Around Within Around Within
the farm the farm the farm the farm
Plants other than crops 7 3 28 18
Species richness
(number of species)
Pollinators 1 0 10 6
Pest A 310 160 51 49
Abundance
(number of individuals)
Predators of A 9 3 24 11
(Note: The numbers shown are the mean values rounded up to the nearest integer.)
(>) With reference to the data collected within the farms, discuss the effectiveness of the use of
herbicides. How can the use of herbicides bring about an increase in the yield of crop production?
(3 marks)
(ii) According to the data collected within the farms, discuss the effectiveness of chemical control and
biological control on the population of pests. Explain your answer with supporting evidence from
the data. (4 marks)
(iii) With reference to species richness, explain why organic farming is beneficial to the sustainable
development of communities in the areas around the farm. (3 marks)
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2
E
F 2(b) Algal bloom commonly occurs when an aquatic ecosystem is polluted by domestic sewage. Lakes A and B
have similar environmental conditions while the frequency of occurrence of algal bloom in Lake B is lower
than that in Lake A. The major food chains of the two lakes are shown below:
Lake A: phytoplankton -> zooplankton Fish Species 1
Lake B: phytoplankton -> zooplankton -> Fish Species 1 Fish Species 2
It is hypothesised that the number of trophic levels of the food chain affects the frequency of occurrence of
algal bloom in the two lakes. To test this hypothesis, phosphate was added to the lakes and the population
sizes of the zooplankton were monitored. The bar chart below shows the population sizes of zooplankton in
Lakes A and B before and after the addition of phosphate:
3.5
3.0 ■■i before phosphate addition
g l " ~ I after phosphate addition
I
■S._
2.5
N =
2.0
2£
11
1.5
3 1.0
o'
e-
0.5
0.0
Lake A Lake B
(>) What would be the effect of phosphate addition on the population size of phytoplankton? Explain
your answer. (2 marks)
(ii) With reference to the bar chart, suggest why the frequency of occurrence of algal bloom in Lake B
is lower than that in Lake A. (3 marks)
(iii) Based on the food chain of Lake B, explain why there is a higher zooplankton biomass in Lake B
after phosphate addition. (3 marks)
(iv) Explain why algal bloom leads to the reduction of dissolved oxygen in water at night. (2 marks)
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SECTION C Microorganisms and Humans
Answer ALL parts of the question.
3(a) Listeria monocytogenes is a foodbome pathogen which is commonly found in various food products.
Ready-to-eat food products that require refrigeration such as fresh milk and yoghurt are at high risk of
spreading Listeria monocytogenes. The table below lists the temperature range for the growth of this
bacterium:
Lower limit Optimum Upper limit
Temperature (°C) -1.5 30-37 45
(i) With reference to the above information, explain why this bacterium is often spread via fresh milk
and yoghurt and causes infections to humans. (4 marks)
(ii) Pasteurisation is a common method for preserving fresh milk.
(1) Describe the process of pasteurisation of fresh milk. (2 marks)
(2) Explain why pasteurisation can kill this bacterium. (1 mark)
(iii) To detect Listeria monocytogenes in food, agar plates with selective medium can be used. The
selective medium allows only the species of Listeria genus to grow on it. For Listeria
monocytogenes, an opaque area will be formed around the colony. The photograph below shows the
colonies formed on an agar plate with selective medium:
(1) Count the number of Listeria monocytogenes colonies. (1 mark)
(2) Suggest one safety measure that should be taken to dispose of the agar plates after the
experiment in order to avoid contamination of the environment. (1 mark)
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3(b) Viruses are host-specific because they can only infect certain types of cells. The following diagram shows a
virus which infects epithelial cells in the upper but not the lower respiratory tract in human:
Key:
protein on the viral surface
Y protein on the surface of epithelial cells in the upper respiratory tract
Y protein on the surface of epithelial cells in the lower respiratory tract
Stage X
-r-r-'it T
;.j: J- epithelial cells
j ■ u
I___________________ __________________ j L_ j __ i
f
upper respiratory tract lower respiratory tract
(i) With reference to the life cycle of viruses, describe what happens in stage X. (1 mark)
(i>) Using your understanding of protein structure, explain why this virus can only infect the epithelial
cells of the upper respiratory tract but not the lower respiratory tract. (2 marks)
(iii) Fish and pigs may carry viruses of their own. Viruses of one host species can go through a series of
mutations and become infectious to other host species. Explain which viruses, from fish or pigs,
have a higher potential to infect humans when present in the food products. (3 marks)
(iv) Foodbome illnesses of microbial origin, especially bacterial infections, is a serious food safety
problem. Scientists have proposed the use of bacteriophages to eliminate bacterial pathogens
present in food.
(1) Describe how a bacteriophage could eliminate the whole population of a bacterial pathogen
in food even if only one bacterial pathogen is infected by the bacteriophage. (4 marks)
(2) With reference to the host-specificity of viral infection, state one advantage of using
bacteriophages in this approach to eliminate bacterial pathogens in food. (1 mark)
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SECTION D Biotechnology
Answer ALL parts of the question.
4(a) X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID) is a recessive genetic disorder which is due to a
defective gene located on the X chromosome. X-SCID infants fail to produce T-lymphocytes. As a result,
infections become life-threatening to X-SCID infants. In recent years, a new gene therapy has been
developed for treating X-SCID patients. A simplified flowchart of the gene therapy is shown below:
(1) Extract bone marrow cells of the X-SCID infant with the defective gene
(2) Insert a corrected version of the gene into the extracted bone marrow cells
(3) Transplant bone marrow cells with the corrected gene into the X-SCID infant
(4) Recovered X-SCID infant produces T-lymphocytes
(i) In gene therapy, a specific type of ceils will be selected depending on the defective gene to be
corrected. In the above case, bone marrow cells fulfill the criteria for the gene therapy. State two
general criteria for selecting a suitable type of cells in gene therapy. (2 marks)
(ii) Suggest a suitable method for inserting the corrected version of the gene into the extracted bone
marrow cells. State one advantage and one disadvantage of this method. (3 marks)
(iii) An X-SCID boy has recovered after receiving the gene therapy. If, after 20 years, he marries a
healthy woman, will he pass the defective gene to his offspring in the future? Explain your answer.
(3 marks)
(iv) Both gene therapy and production of transgenic animals involve recombinant DNA technology.
Discuss why the gene therapy shown above is generally less controversial than the production of
transgenic animals. (2 marks)
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4(b) In the production of genetically modified organisms (GMO), antibiotic resistance genes are often used for
the screening of successful transformation. A student collected some food products and wanted to
determine if these food products are made from GMO. With primers corresponding to these antibiotic
resistance genes, the student performed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on the food samples to check
for the presence of the genes.
(>) The graph below shows the change in temperature during PCR cycles:
s
O
s
£
■>
Time
(1) Which stage (M, N or O) represents annealing? With reference to the events in a PCR cycle,
explain your answer. (3 marks)
(2) Draw a simple labelled diagram to show what happens in the annealing stage. (2 marks)
(ii) The diagram below shows part of the DNA sequence of an antibiotic resistance gene X. The
sequences shown are the corresponding regions for primer annealing:
Direction of primer extension
------------------------------- —>
... GGATCAGCTG ACTCGCCTGG CACGCGGAGG AGCGTGCGCG ...
----------------------------------- H
600 base pairs
Which of the following primers (I, II, III or IV) should be used for amplifying gene X? (2 marks)
Primer I: GGTCCGCTCA GTCGACTAGG
Primer II: CCTAGTCGAC TGAGCGGACC
Primer III: GTGCGCCTCC TCGCACGCGC
Primer IV: GCGCGTGCGA GGAGGCGCAC
(iii) Describe how you can use the principle of gel electrophoresis to confirm if the PCR product is gene
X. (3 marks)
END OF PAPER
Sources of materials used in this paper will be acknowledged in the HKDSE Question Papers booklet published by
the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority at a later stage.
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