High School Biology : Understanding Gene Regulation
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for High School Biology
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Understanding Gene Regulation
A protein that binds to a DNA sequence and reduces transcription of a target gene is referred to as __________.
a repressor
an insulator
an inhibitor
an activator
a repressor
A repressor is a transcription factor that negatively regulates expression of a target gene. An activator is a transcription factor that enhances expression of a target gene. Activators and repressors often bind to the same genomic sequence to precisely regulate transcription.
An inhibitor is a factor that modulates a biological or chemical process, such as a cell signaling pathway or an enzymatic reaction, but does not generally bind directly to DNA. An insulator is a protein that forms boundaries between active and inactive genomic regions, but generally does not have a direct effect on a target gene.
Example Question #2 : Understanding Gene Regulation
What is the functional unit in which numerous adjacent genes are under the control of the same promoter and regulated by the same operator?
Transcription factor
Exon
Operon
Enhancer
Intron
Operon
The correct answer is operon. Found in prokaryotes and a few eukaryotes, operons allow transcription and translation of all the genes downstream of a promoter simultaneously. This is advantageous because these organisms are able to express a subset of related genes rapidly in response to external or internal stimuli.
Example Question #2 : Understanding Gene Regulation
Fill in the blanks with the best answers:
__________ are DNA segments that carry information that will ultimately not be transcribed into mRNA. These regions occur between __________, which are the DNA segments containing the genes to be transcribed and translated.
Exons . . . introns
Introns . . . exons
Introns . . . proteins
Exons . . . histones
Introns . . . codons
Introns . . . exons
This is simply a matter of vocabulary. Introns do not contain coding sequences, while exons do. "Intron" comes from the word "intragenic," meaning between genes, and therefore between exons. During post-transcriptional modification, introns are spliced out of the initial RNA transcript.
Example Question #21 : Genes And Dna
Which of the following best describes the interaction between tRNA and mRNA during protein synthesis?
mRNA anti-codons directly bind tRNA codons to form a chain of amino acids. Once all amino acids are joined, mRNA and tRNA are degraded.
mRNA provides the code for the proper amino acid chain order and the ribosome creates the links in the chain (peptide bonds). tRNA is then responsible for folding the chain to give a protein its 3-dimensional structure.
tRNA anti-codons are matched to the mRNA codons during translation in the ribosome to build the correct protein. tRNA molecules carry the amino acids to the ribosome in the correct order as prescribed by the mRNA transcript.
tRNA semi-randomly adds amino acids to the ribosome, and the ribosome sorts them later by binding mRNA codons and building the correct protein chain sequence.
mRNA does not interact with tRNA because mRNA is a nucleic acid that is only utilized during transcription.
tRNA anti-codons are matched to the mRNA codons during translation in the ribosome to build the correct protein. tRNA molecules carry the amino acids to the ribosome in the correct order as prescribed by the mRNA transcript.
The ribosome is where translation happens, but it requires both mRNA and tRNA. mRNA provides the "recipe" for the order of the amino acids in its codons, each of which corresponds to a specific amino acid in the chain, and the tRNA molecules come in and bind appropriately when their anti-codons are complementary to the mRNA codons. tRNA molecules carry the amino acids to the ribosome, where the actual protein chain is then synthesized.
Example Question #3 : Understanding Gene Regulation
What type of protein binds to the the regulatory region of genes in eukaryotic cells to regulate gene expression?
TATA-box binding protein
Tyrosine recombinases
RNA polymerase
Transcription factors
Transcription factors
Transcription factors are proteins that bind to the regulator region of genes in eukaryotes and regulate whether a gene is expressed or not. A TATA-box binding protein is recruited after the transcription factors bind to the regulator region, and it eventually recruits RNA polymease. Tyrosine recombinases are not involved in initating eukaryotic gene expression.
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