Cell and Molecular Biology Trivia

1. Which organelles, also known as the 'powerhouses of the cell', produce energy through cellular respiration?

From Quiz Cell Organelles

Answer: Mitochondria

Mitochondria are organelles with two membranes. The inner membrane folds in many layers called the cristae. Mitochondria are present in both animal and plant cells.

From Quiz S'Not Just Sticky Mess

Answer: A protein ligated to carbohydrate chains

Proteins are synthesised on ribosomes and those which are to become glycoproteins are generally fed into the endoplasmic reticulum. In the endoplasmic reticulum, enzymes specifically add preformed glycan chains to certain asparagine residues - these are called N glycans, since "N" is the one letter code for asparagine. The protein may then be transported to the Golgi apparatus in the cell, where sugars can be added to the oxygens of serines and threonines - these are called O glycans. Mucins are highly O-glycosylated and so proteins which are to become mucins tend to have regions with many serines and threonines.

From Quiz Basic Cell Quiz 3: Plant Vs Animal

Answer: Cell Wall

The cell wall is one of the structures that gives a plant cell its shape. Most plant cells when looked at under a microscope resemble small boxes packed closely together. An animal cell looks different. Under a microscope, animal cells appear circular and spread further apart.

From Quiz Basic Cell Quiz 2: Mitosis Vs Meiosis

Answer: Gametes

The body cells produced during meiosis are identical and contain the same set of DNA. Gametes, or sex cells, produced during meiosis, are genetically different. This is one of the reasons there are a wide range of possibilities for the traits of an offspring. For example no two humans look exactly alike except for twins.

From Quiz The Principles and Mechanics of Cellular Division

Answer: DNA replication

DNA is replicated from a point of origin (known as an OriC). In small plasmid DNA (as found in bacteria), one OriC allows for quick DNA replication, but in human chromosomes, there is too much genetic information for just one OriC, and so there are several origins of replication.

From Quiz The World of a Cell

Answer: cholesterol

Cholesterol is a lipid-soluble substance found within the hydrophobic areas of the phospholipid bilayer. They prevent the phospholipid molecules from getting too close to each other, and thereby preventing the plasma membrane to become a rigid structure.

From Quiz Cellular Respiration

Answer: C6H12O6(glucose) + 6 O2 (oxygen) --> 6 H2O(water) + 6 CO2 (carbon dioxide)

Not included in this chemical formula are the 40+ enzymes used in cellular respiration, or the many ATP that is the end product. In photosynthesis, sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water are used to make sugars and oxygen. Cellular respiration breaks down those sugars.

From Quiz The Science and History of Genetics

Answer: Pea

The humble pea plant is the source of knowledge from which the discipline of genetics has developed. It highlights the great partnership between botany and medical science in that not only do plants provide useful drugs, but, they form the foundation of our genetic knowledge. What Herr Mendel discovered was that certain traits, in this case the colour of the pea plant, were either dominant or recessive (this is a bit simplistic, as other traits can be co-dominant). Mendel observed that when smooth yellow peas were crossed with wrinkly green peas, all the offspring in the F1 (first filial generation) were smooth and yellow. His experiment continued with the crossing of the F1 pea plants and this time 75% were smooth and yellow and 25% were wrinkly green. Voila, the birth of modern genetics. Unfortunately for Mendel, his experiments and results were largely ignored for the best part of 35 years.

From Quiz Cell Membrane: Structure and Function

Answer: Plasma Membrane

In animal cells, the cell or plasma membrane is a structure which helps keep the cytoplasm and the cell organelles in place. The cell membrane is composed of many different substances and structures. The terms plasma membrane and cell membrane can be used interchangeably.

From Quiz Developmental Biology

Answer: Sertoli Cells

Sertoli cells maintain the developing sperm cells' environment to ensure that they receive enough nourishment during their journey from a single diploid spermatagonium to four haploid spermatozoa. The sertoli cells also ensure that the cells' development and eventual release into the lumen of the seminiferous tubule are properly synchronized.

From Quiz Genes and you

Answer: Watson, Crick and Franklin

Griffith discovered transformation in bacterial cells, while Hershey and Chase, together with Avery, MacLeod and McCarty proved that DNA is the genetic material instead of proteins.

From Quiz Molecular definitions

Answer: Membrane

From Quiz Cell Organelles

Answer: Cilia

Flagella also help single-celled organisms move around, but they are not present in the epithelium. The singular form for cilia is cilium.

From Quiz Never Work With Membrane Proteins

Answer: Aquaporins

Although water molecules are small enough to pass through the plasma membrane without the help of proteins, the rate of this flow is very slow and is unlikely to protect cells from bursting if they were placed into a hypotonic solution (i.e. a solution with lots of water relative to solute). These proteins are not gated, like the ion channels discussed in question 1, but are constitutively open. Aquaporins are able to selectively allow the passage of water molecules whilst rejecting other substances, even those smaller than water. This is done by utilising a selectivity filter in the centre of the pore, which rejects the entry of hydrogen ions, that would otherwise result in the acidification of the cell.

From Quiz Basic Cell Quiz

Answer: Cytokinesis

Cells divide because they perform better when they are smaller. The smaller the cell the more easily it is to move objects in and out of the cell. Division creates two identical new cells.

From Quiz Cycling Through Life

Answer: Interphase

The name - "interphase" - implies that this process isn't very important; it's just what comes between cytokinesis (the two daughter cells splitting apart) and mitosis (the creation of two daughter nuclei right before cytokinesis). But this is misleading: interphase is tremendously important. It's divided into three further stages. First comes Gap 1 (another misleading name), in which the cell synthesizes proteins, performs its normal functions, builds more organelles, and grows in size. The second stage is Synthesis, in which the cell copies its genetic material in preparation for mitosis, but leaves the two genomes in its own cell nucleus. Interphase ends in Gap 2, another growth period immediately before mitosis. The length of these stages varies greatly depending on the organism and system of the cell, but a typical human cell spends around 90% of its life in interphase. Prophase, anaphase, and telophase are all stages of mitosis.

From Quiz The Principles and Mechanics of Cellular Division

Answer: Growth

Egg cells usually contain large amounts of cytoplasm, with stockpiled organelles and mRNA. There is also a supply of nutrients to sustain the egg after fertilisation. The size of the egg varies - goldfish eggs, for example, are several times larger than human eggs, as the egg of a goldfish must survive for longer as an isolated entity. Absent G1 and 2 phases during cell division will therefore duplicate DNA, but cause the cells to become gradually smaller as no growth occurs.

From Quiz The World of a Cell

Answer: integral proteins

Integral proteins can be found across the phospholipid bilayer. This means they are perpendicular in respect to the plasma membrane. Their structure allows passage of hydrophilic or ionic substances across the membrane. Since these substances are not lipid-soluble, they do not easily diffuse and go inside the cell.

From Quiz Stages of Meiosis and Mitosis

Answer: Anaphase 1 (Meiosis)

Anaphase 1 occurs during the first meiotic division. In this stage, homologues (pairs of chromosomes with the same genes but possibly different alleles, dependent on the genotype) segregate from each other, achieving chromosome reduction, i.e. a change in ploidy from diploid to haploid. Telophase 2 does not actually exist during mitosis, as there is only one division in this process. It does, however, exist in meiosis.

From Quiz The Science and History of Genetics

Answer: Punnett Square

The Punnett square was devised by the British geneticist and zoologist, Reginald C. Punnett. The genetic diagram is extremely useful in ascertaining the probabilities of certain conditions being inherited by offspring. There are some limitations to the method however and the common example is the sex linkage and (XY) genotype of males. In the inheritance of sex, a gene is passed from both the mother (XX) and the father (XY) to create a pair. Humans nearly always have two copies of each gene, except for the XY genotype of males. The implication of this is that conditions caused by the X chromosome are going to more likely affect males as they only have one copy of the gene. Thus, if the X chromosome is defective the male will develop the trait. With females, who have two copies of the gene on X chromosomes, the trait will only be shown if BOTH genes are defective. This has phenotypic consequences whereby some conditions statistically affect a greater proportion of males than females. Such conditions include the various types of colour blindness.

From Quiz Bacterial Metabolism

Answer: Glycolysis

Embden-Meyerhoff is the predominant form of glycolysis found throughout the bacterial kingdom. The Entner-Douderhoff pathway is common in aerobic Gram - negative bacteria, but rare in Gram - positive and/or anaerobic bacteria. Both pathways catalyze the oxidation of one mole of glucose to two moles of pyruvic acid.

From Quiz The Small But Mighty Cell

Answer: Robert Hooke

In 1665, Robert Hooke coined the name 'cell' from the Greek cellular, which means "room", when he compared the cork cells he saw through his microscope to the small rooms in which monks lived.

From Quiz Histology - The Very Basics

Answer: neutral buffered formalin

Formaldehyde solution is diluted to 10% formalin with a phosphate buffer added to keep the pH neutral. Buffering is required to reduce an artifact in tissues that are kept in formalin for a long time. Formalin pigment is generally a brown discolouration around blood vessels and red cells, and can obscure tissue detail. Another description for it would be "gungy".

From Quiz Genes and you

Answer: A nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate group

A nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate group. For DNA, a hydrogen atom is attached to the 2' carbon of the pentose, hence deoxyribose. Whereas, in RNA, a hydroxyl group is attached to the 2' carbon, hence ribose.

From Quiz Cell Organelles

Answer: Cellulose

Not the same as cellulite!

From Quiz Molecular definitions

Answer: Nucleus

From Quiz Cell Organelles

Answer: Nucleolus

Ribosomes help synthesize proteins, and the nucleolus synthesizes ribosomes in eukaryotic cells - cells with a nuclear envelope. The nucleolus is the largest part of the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.

From Quiz Never Work With Membrane Proteins

Answer: The Extracellular Matrix

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an often overlooked component of our bodies. It surrounds just about every cell in our body and is essential to life. It contains several structural proteins, to which proteins such as integrins can attach and anchor the cell. Proteins in the ECM also sequester important growth factors which can be released in times of stress, promoting cell survival. Integrins play an important structural role (e.g. cell anchorage and cell motility), but are also important in signalling. By establishing contacts with the ECM, integrins tell the cell that they are in a stable environment and so encourage its survival.

From Quiz S'Not Just Sticky Mess

Answer: Epithelia

Mucus is found in the respiratory tract, the digestive system, the uritogenital tract, the eyes and the ears. Its characteristic stickiness means that bacteria become trapped and are unable to reach the epithelia which lies below the mucus and therefore cannot cause infection.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:48 AM

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