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Author Topic: VCE Biology Question Thread  (Read 5175307 times)  Share 

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heids

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5475 on: July 09, 2015, 01:15:06 pm »
+2
Thanks

I still don't feel that convinced though :( haha

Why not?  It's simple fact.  You've only done 20% of assessments, so it's almost entirely about how you carry yourself from here!  You can't change the past, so there's no point stressing about it (I've seen people waste hours on end on ATAR Calc, when instead they could be actually studying and increasing their scores) - but you can always be doing your best to change the future.  Why did you lose those marks, and how can you avoid it in future?  Focus on this, focus on testing your knowledge (like I said, try the get-a-study-design-dot-point-and-write-all-you-can method) and checking that you really know everything - and you'll get there.  Or stress about it, lose motivation and give up, and you're right, you probably won't hit 40.
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cosine

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5476 on: July 09, 2015, 01:35:49 pm »
+1
Why not?  It's simple fact.  You've only done 20% of assessments, so it's almost entirely about how you carry yourself from here!  You can't change the past, so there's no point stressing about it (I've seen people waste hours on end on ATAR Calc, when instead they could be actually studying and increasing their scores) - but you can always be doing your best to change the future.  Why did you lose those marks, and how can you avoid it in future?  Focus on this, focus on testing your knowledge (like I said, try the get-a-study-design-dot-point-and-write-all-you-can method) and checking that you really know everything - and you'll get there.  Or stress about it, lose motivation and give up, and you're right, you probably won't hit 40.

Cheers bangali_lok, you rock.. (that rhyming though, way better than yours yesterday: "I'm not a fan / Of prac-exam-spam (ooh kinda rhymes!" :P)

I am keen on this get-a-study-design-dot-point-and-write-all-you-can-method, however, could I post it on this thread so that someone can confirm my knowledge of the dot points? (might be a good revision for other year 12's too if they read my points and spot any errors/areas of improvements) I say this because my teacher isn't the best person to conform with..
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heids

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5477 on: July 09, 2015, 03:45:03 pm »
+3
Cheers bangali_lok, you rock.. (that rhyming though, way better than yours yesterday: "I'm not a fan / Of prac-exam-spam (ooh kinda rhymes!" :P)
Rubbish.  Mine didn't exactly rhyme, but at least it had better rhythm than yours.  I'm not a fan, Of prac-exam-spam.  Emphasis on italics.  Besides, it was late-ish at night.

Quote
I am keen on this get-a-study-design-dot-point-and-write-all-you-can-method, however, could I post it on this thread so that someone can confirm my knowledge of the dot points? (might be a good revision for other year 12's too if they read my points and spot any errors/areas of improvements) I say this because my teacher isn't the best person to conform with..
Sure!
The main point with this, of course, is to then compare with whatever notes (or failing that, textbook) you have, so that you check that you know everything.  When you get stuck and can't think of much to write, that's when you know you have a real area to brush up on.

Also, imagine you were trying to explain it to someone else who had absolutely NO clue.  Maybe pick on a random friend who doesn't have a clue what's going on, and designate yourself as their free tutor!  You'll learn more than them.  Or imagine you were giving a VCE Biology lecture, and write out a full script of the lecture you'd deliver.  'You do not really understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother' (good ole Albert). 
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cosine

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5478 on: July 09, 2015, 05:46:52 pm »
0
Thank you bangali_lok  8)

Restriction enzymes cut specific nucleotide sequences either into blunt ends, or sticky end. However, what part/bond of the nucleotide does the enzyme actually break? Does it break the phosphodiester/covalent bond that forms between the 3 hydroxyl group and the adjacent phosphate, or does it break the actual hydrogen bonds between the bases? Or both?

Thank you.
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BakedDwarf

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5479 on: July 09, 2015, 05:57:56 pm »
+2
Thank you bangali_lok  8)

Restriction enzymes cut specific nucleotide sequences either into blunt ends, or sticky end. However, what part/bond of the nucleotide does the enzyme actually break? Does it break the phosphodiester/covalent bond that forms between the 3 hydroxyl group and the adjacent phosphate, or does it break the actual hydrogen bonds between the bases? Or both?

Thank you.

Restriction enzymes cut covalent bonds (within a single strand) and hydrogen bonds (between strands)


vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5480 on: July 09, 2015, 07:44:06 pm »
+1
Restriction enzymes cut covalent bonds (within a single strand) and hydrogen bonds (between strands)

Just jumping in here. Restriction enzymes don't break hydrogen bonds.

More specifically, though you do get a break in hydrogen bonds between complementary bases in a DNA strand after the strand has been digested, this occurs as a result of the cleavage of phosphodiester bonds in the DNA strand, not because the restriction enzyme forces the hydrogen bonds apart.
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cosine

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5481 on: July 09, 2015, 07:50:22 pm »
0
Restriction enzymes cut covalent bonds (within a single strand) and hydrogen bonds (between strands)

When you say restriction enzymes cut covalent bonds (within a single strand), do you mean that they cut the bonds that connect adjacent nucleotides of a double-stranded DNA molecule? Or what exactly do you mean by within a single strand?

Also, when trying to transport a DNA fragment into another cell, say a bacterial cell. Why do we only have to use restriction enzymes with sticky ends to cut the passenger-DNA fragment, and then use the same restriction enzyme to cut the plasmid? Is it because by using the same restriction enzyme, it will create the appropiate stick ends on the plasmid as there is on the passenger-DNA fragment, and in that case they can join together when mixed and under the presence of ligase?

When ligase joins together two fragments of DNA, does it only catalyse the binding of the phosphate group with the hydroxyl group, or does it also bind together the hydrogen bonds between the complementary bases?

Also also, why can't ligase join together two blunt ends? I understand that they don't have the bases sticking out, and so how can the two pieces of DNA join, well can't ligase actually bind the phosphate group of one DNA fragment, directly to the sugar of the other one, without there being any base-pairing?

Cheers.
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mahler004

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5482 on: July 09, 2015, 08:18:51 pm »
+7
When you say restriction enzymes cut covalent bonds (within a single strand), do you mean that they cut the bonds that connect adjacent nucleotides of a double-stranded DNA molecule? Or what exactly do you mean by within a single strand?

They cut adjacent nucleotides within a strand, yeah. So:

ATAATATA|ATA

Cuts the AA bond - the hydrogen bond to the other strand is broken as a result of this.

Also, when trying to transport a DNA fragment into another cell, say a bacterial cell. Why do we only have to use restriction enzymes with sticky ends to cut the passenger-DNA fragment, and then use the same restriction enzyme to cut the plasmid? Is it because by using the same restriction enzyme, it will create the appropiate stick ends on the plasmid as there is on the passenger-DNA fragment, and in that case they can join together when mixed and under the presence of ligase?

I'm not really sure what the question is here - you might be getting mixed up with transformation (which isn't covered in VCE?)

But yeah, if you cut insert/fragment A and vector/plasmid A with restriction enzyme B, you will generate complimentary sticky ends which can then be ligated together. The complete ligated vector can then be transformed into competent cells.

When ligase joins together two fragments of DNA, does it only catalyse the binding of the phosphate group with the hydroxyl group, or does it also bind together the hydrogen bonds between the complementary bases?

It only catalyses the formation of the phosphodiester bond. The hydrogen bonds between the two sticky ends must already have formed. The formation of the hydrogen bonds can happen without an enzyme.

(Ligase reactions are generally run at a lower temperature to facilitate this.)

Also also, why can't ligase join together two blunt ends? I understand that they don't have the bases sticking out, and so how can the two pieces of DNA join, well can't ligase actually bind the phosphate group of one DNA fragment, directly to the sugar of the other one, without there being any base-pairing?

You can do 'blunt ended ligations,' but they are very difficult, as you might imagine. You do these reactions in conditions to facilitate an interaction between the two blunt ended strands. These reactions are difficult to conduct, and you end up with a bunch of products.

Ligating sticky ends is much easier and you should only end up with one product (the plasmid you're interested in.)

Thank you Maca 13

1). When an enzyme's disulphide bridges are broken, what will happen to the enzyme?

I said the shape of the active site will obviously by altered, and hence the enzyme can no longer react and bind to it's specific substrate as it is no longer complementary.

However, should the word 'denatured' be included? Has the enzyme been denatured or not? I know if the enzyme was exposed to factors outside it's optimum range it would become denatured (besides low temperatures), so does that mean enzyme's become denatured when their overall shape is changed, and hence the bonds in the active site is are broken?
Denature would be fair. I suspect that the answer is actually more complex, because of the role that disulphide bonds actually play in protein folding, but thinking with my VCE hat on, I daresay denaturation would be a fair assumption. Maybe if mahler's around he'll shed some light on this :)

Most of the time, it's probably fair to say that if you remove a disulphide bond, a protein's function will be altered. There's also a good chance that the protein will not fold correctly, and may be insoluble.

Be careful with conflating a 'change of shape' with denaturation. Enzymes/proteins often change shape ('conformation'). These conformational changes are very important in protein function - an example you may have come across is haemoglobin - oxygen-bound haemoglobin has a different conformation to deoxyhaemoglobin. The oxygen-bound confirmation adopts a confirmation which has a higher affinity for oxygen. Both deoxy and oxy haemoglobin do have structure however, it's just that the shape changes through the course of the protein's function. Indeed, there are now a lot of examples of proteins that don't have structure - that are still functional!

When you denature an enzyme, you lose all structure - the protein adopts a 'random coil' structure which is not biologically active:



As this picture suggests, this process is often (but by no means always) reversible.

[Obligatory 'more detail then you need for VCE, but useful learning for life.']
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 08:28:52 pm by mahler004 »
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vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5483 on: July 09, 2015, 09:07:30 pm »
+4
They cut adjacent nucleotides within a strand, yeah. So:

ATAATATA|ATA

Cuts the AA bond - the hydrogen bond to the other strand is broken as a result of this.

I'm not really sure what the question is here - you might be getting mixed up with transformation (which isn't covered in VCE?)

But yeah, if you cut insert/fragment A and vector/plasmid A with restriction enzyme B, you will generate complimentary sticky ends which can then be ligated together. The complete ligated vector can then be transformed into competent cells.

It only catalyses the formation of the phosphodiester bond. The hydrogen bonds between the two sticky ends must already have formed. The formation of the hydrogen bonds can happen without an enzyme.

(Ligase reactions are generally run at a lower temperature to facilitate this.)

You can do 'blunt ended ligations,' but they are very difficult, as you might imagine. You do these reactions in conditions to facilitate an interaction between the two blunt ended strands. These reactions are difficult to conduct, and you end up with a bunch of products.

Ligating sticky ends is much easier and you should only end up with one product (the plasmid you're interested in.)
Denature would be fair. I suspect that the answer is actually more complex, because of the role that disulphide bonds actually play in protein folding, but thinking with my VCE hat on, I daresay denaturation would be a fair assumption. Maybe if mahler's around he'll shed some light on this :)


Most of the time, it's probably fair to say that if you remove a disulphide bond, a protein's function will be altered. There's also a good chance that the protein will not fold correctly, and may be insoluble.

Be careful with conflating a 'change of shape' with denaturation. Enzymes/proteins often change shape ('conformation'). These conformational changes are very important in protein function - an example you may have come across is haemoglobin - oxygen-bound haemoglobin has a different conformation to deoxyhaemoglobin. The oxygen-bound confirmation adopts a confirmation which has a higher affinity for oxygen. Both deoxy and oxy haemoglobin do have structure however, it's just that the shape changes through the course of the protein's function. Indeed, there are now a lot of examples of proteins that don't have structure - that are still functional!

When you denature an enzyme, you lose all structure - the protein adopts a 'random coil' structure which is not biologically active:

(Image removed from quote.)

As this picture suggests, this process is often (but by no means always) reversible.

[Obligatory 'more detail then you need for VCE, but useful learning for life.']

Knew you'd have the good protein explanation :p

Just gonna jump in and highlight the fact that VCE (very wrongly!!) assumes that denaturation is an irreversible process. On your exams, you must say it's irreversible, despite this being incorrect.
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cosine

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5484 on: July 09, 2015, 09:34:04 pm »
0
Thank you so much guys!

Not to sound rude, but the question wasn't directly answered unless I missed out on it. I get now that enzymes, obviously, change shape as they catalyse certain reactions (hence the induced-fit model..), but so when a disulfide bridge is broken, would saying that the enzyme has permanently changed it's shape, thus disallowing it to function as usual, as it is no longer complementary to it's substrate's shape. Would the word 'denatured' be used in this explanation, or no?

Cheers.
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grannysmith

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5485 on: July 09, 2015, 09:46:14 pm »
+4
Thank you so much guys!

Not to sound rude, but the question wasn't directly answered unless I missed out on it. I get now that enzymes, obviously, change shape as they catalyse certain reactions (hence the induced-fit model..), but so when a disulfide bridge is broken, would saying that the enzyme has permanently changed it's shape, thus disallowing it to function as usual, as it is no longer complementary to it's substrate's shape. Would the word 'denatured' be used in this explanation, or no?

Cheers.
Thing is, you don't need to know that disulphide bridges even exist in VCE Bio, so the chances of them asking you are slim. However, if a question stated that bonds, called disulphide bridges, within the enzyme were broken, then yes, you'd say the enzyme has denatured.

vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5486 on: July 09, 2015, 10:12:59 pm »
+3
Thank you so much guys!

Not to sound rude, but the question wasn't directly answered unless I missed out on it. I get now that enzymes, obviously, change shape as they catalyse certain reactions (hence the induced-fit model..), but so when a disulfide bridge is broken, would saying that the enzyme has permanently changed it's shape, thus disallowing it to function as usual, as it is no longer complementary to it's substrate's shape. Would the word 'denatured' be used in this explanation, or no?

Cheers.

What grannysmith has said is exactly right in the context of VCE. Pretty sure I tried to say the same earlier too, that you would say it has denatured, but I do struggle with verbosity sometimes so God only knows what I said! :p

Technically it doesn't cause it to permanently denature but in the context of VCE you'd assume it does. Certainly, it would induce a change in shape, as disulphide bridges help to stabilise tertiary/quartnerary structures of proteins, but just as they can be broken they can also be reformed; although this often leads to a completely different folding structure.

Everything in the second paragraph is VCE+ so you don't need to know any of it :)
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Biology24123

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5487 on: July 09, 2015, 11:27:04 pm »
0
Hey guys

I'm currently doing some unit 3 practise exams and getting around 75-85%. Is that decent for this time of year

vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5488 on: July 10, 2015, 12:07:10 am »
0
Hey guys

I'm currently doing some unit 3 practise exams and getting around 75-85%. Is that decent for this time of year

Pretty solid! Keep working at it :)
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Biology24123

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #5489 on: July 10, 2015, 12:19:46 am »
0
Hi guys

Does DNA replication occur in the 5' to 3' direction. Is it opposite to the direction of DNA polymerase