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AP Biology Unit 6B: Transcription, Translation & Gene Expression — practice questions

Explore 83 free Unit 6B: Transcription, Translation & Gene Expression questions in AP Biology Biology. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Unit 6B: Transcription, Translation & Gene Expression questions and exercises with answers

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A transcription factor binding site located on the same chromosome, right next to the gene it regulates, is described using a specific term. What is that term?Read the answer and worked solution →Switch the operons on and offRead the answer and worked solution →Assemble a translation start complexRead the answer and worked solution →DNA was first isolated from white blood cells in the 1860s by:Read the answer and worked solution →Griffith named his isolated nuclear chemicals nuclein because they came from the cell's:Read the answer and worked solution →How many hydrogen bonds hold an adenine and thymine pair together?Read the answer and worked solution →How many hydrogen bonds hold a cytosine and guanine pair together?Read the answer and worked solution →The diameter of the DNA double helix is:Read the answer and worked solution →Griffith's 1928 experiments with Streptococcus pneumoniae demonstrated:Read the answer and worked solution →Griffith's R strain of pneumococcus is called rough because it:Read the answer and worked solution →Injecting mice with live R strain mixed with heat-killed S strain resulted in:Read the answer and worked solution →The follow-up experiment that identified the transforming principle showed transformation failed when which molecule was degraded?Read the answer and worked solution →In the Hershey and Chase centrifugation, the heavier bacterial cells ended up in the:Read the answer and worked solution →The two strands of a DNA double helix are antiparallel, meaning one runs 5' to 3' and the other runs:Read the answer and worked solution →Purines differ from pyrimidines structurally because purines have:Read the answer and worked solution →Each base pair sits how far from the next along the helix?Read the answer and worked solution →How many base pairs are there in one complete turn of the DNA helix?Read the answer and worked solution →The phosphodiester bond of the DNA backbone joins which two carbons?Read the answer and worked solution →Rosalind Franklin did not share the Nobel Prize for the DNA structure because:Read the answer and worked solution →A limitation of Sanger's original sequencing method is that it can read:Read the answer and worked solution →Each amino acid is defined by a nucleotide sequence how many bases long?Read the answer and worked solution →Nucleotide triplets that specify amino acids are called:Read the answer and worked solution →Codons that terminate protein synthesis are called nonsense codons or:Read the answer and worked solution →Which codon specifies methionine and also serves to initiate translation?Read the answer and worked solution →How many of the 64 codons terminate protein synthesis?Read the answer and worked solution →The DNA sequence onto which RNA polymerase binds to begin transcription is the:Read the answer and worked solution →The genetic code is described as degenerate, meaning one amino acid can be encoded by:Read the answer and worked solution →Transcription requires the DNA double helix in the region of messenger RNA synthesis to:Read the answer and worked solution →RNA is synthesised in which direction, and by which enzyme?Read the answer and worked solution →The DNA strand from which transcription always proceeds for a given gene is the:Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

A transcription factor binding site located on the same chromosome, right next to the gene it regulates, is described using a specific term. What is that term?

  1. A cis-acting element
  2. A trans-acting element
  3. An operator sequence
  4. A poly-A tail marker
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. A cis-acting element

1. Transcription factors can bind to the promoter just upstream of the gene they regulate. 2. When this binding site is on the same chromosome just next to the gene, it is called a cis-acting element. 3. A trans-acting element instead describes a binding site found outside the promoter or on another chromosome. 4. An operator is a prokaryotic structure, and a poly-A tail is an RNA modification, so neither term fits this description. _Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 16 "Gene Expression", section The Promoter and the Transcription Machinery_

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Switch the operons on and off

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Questions
  1. Statement is true
    Yes
    Statement
    The lac operon is transcribed only when glucose is absent and lactose is present.
  2. Statement is true
    Yes
    Statement
    Two tryptophan molecules bind the trp repressor before it can sit on the operator.
  3. Statement is true
    No
    Statement
    The trp operon stays switched on while tryptophan is plentiful in the cell.
  4. Statement is true
    Yes
    Statement
    Levels of cyclic AMP in E. coli rise as the supply of glucose runs low.
  5. Statement is true
    No
    Statement
    Inducers are proteins that always increase the transcription of an operon.
  6. Statement is true
    Yes
    Statement
    All the genes needed to use lactose sit next to each other in one operon.
Instructions
Tap true or false for each statement about how bacteria control their operons.
_Source: OpenStax Biology 1e, section 16.2 Prokaryotic Gene Regulation_

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Assemble a translation start complex

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Steps
  1. eIF 2 picks up GTP
  2. It binds 40S
  3. Met tRNA joins
  4. GTP becomes GDP
  5. eIF 2 is released
  6. 60S subunit binds
Instructions
Tap the steps in the order a ribosome assembles before it starts reading the message.
_Source: OpenStax Biology 1e, section 16.6 Eukaryotic Translational and Post-translational Gene Regulation_

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