BIOL 2131: Cell and Molecular Biology

Assignment 5 (Total: 100 Marks)

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Section 5.1
1. Refer to Figure 9.17b. (7 marks)
a. Which motor protein moves toward the + end of microtubules?

b. Which motor protein moves toward the - end of the microtubules?

c. How are the motor proteins attached to the vesicles?

2. If you were comparing the molecular structure of kinesin and myosin, which
are thought to have been derived from a common ancestral protein, which
part (heads or tails) would you expect to be most similar between them?
Explain your answer. (5 marks)

3. In an electron micrograph, an object is visible in cross-section. It appears to be

made of nine sets of three hollow tubes that are fused together. They are
arranged in a pattern that looks much like a pinwheel. Next to this object is a
similar object oriented perpendicularly to it. What is the object in the
micrograph? (5 marks)

4. You are observing a structure in the microscope and have exposed it to

fluorescent antibodies against -, -, and -tubulin. It stains positively for all
three. (6 marks)

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Assignment 5

a. What kind of structure is it? How do you know?

b. If the antibody for -tubulin is injected into these cells following

disassembly of microtubules, what happens?

5. Distinguish between the number of complete microtubules in a centriole and

in a cilium. (5 marks)

6. Myosin action (Figure 9.61) differs from that of kinesin (Figure 9.15) in that
one of the kinesin heads is always in contact with a microtubule, whereas
both myosin heads become completely detached from the actin filament. How
are these differences correlated with the two types of motor activities in
which these proteins engage? (6 marks)

Section 5.2
7. Refer to Figure 14.1. In a study of a particular cell line, it is found that the cell
cycle lasts 28 hours. When a slide is made of these cells and the percentage of
cells participating in mitosis determined, it is found that 4.5% of the cells on
the slide are involved in mitosis and/or cytokinesis. (6 marks)
a. What is the length of the M phase?

b. What is the length of the Interphase?

8. Refer to Figure 14.5. How can the same cdc2 kinase control both the G 1-S and
G2-M transitions? (5 marks)

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BIOL 2131: Cell and Molecular Biology

9. According to Figure 14.39, at which stage is a diploid number of paired

chromosomes seen at the cell equator? (3 marks)

10. Which stage or stages of the cell cycle do the following statements refer to?
(5 marks)
______ a.

Cells usually arrest here when they stop dividing.

______ b.

Chromosomes are visible.

______ c.

Chromosomes are doubled for the whole stage.

______ d.

The stage(s) included in interphase

______ e.

Cells usually leave this stage(s) when they become cancer cells.

11. A diploid number of chromosomes have condensed. Each one is seen in the
microscope to be composed of two chromatids. The nuclear membrane has
begun to break down, and the nucleolus is gone. What stage of meiosis
and/or mitosis does this describe? (4 marks)

12. Give two examples of proteins that are synthesized during G 1 phase but that
are not synthesized during G2 phase. (6 marks)

13. Two types of signals have been implicated in metaphase checkpoint arrest.
Consider the results of a recent experiment in which the unattached
kinetochore of a monoattached chromosome was destroyed by a laser beam.
It was found in this study that, following destruction of the kinetochore, the
cell entered anaphase even though this chromosome was not properly
aligned at the metaphase plate. How might you interpret this experiment in
terms of the checkpoint signals? (6 marks)

Section 5.3
14. Refer to Figure 16.5. (6 marks)

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Assignment 5

a. What do the multicoloured chromosomes indicate?

b. Which chromosome in this breast cancer cell is present in five copies?

c. How many copies of chromosome 4 and chromosome 21 are present in

this breast cancer cell karyotype?

15. What is meant by the term signal transduction? (5 marks)

16. Normal cells greatly slow their rates of cell division after filling a culture dish
with a layer that is one cell deep (a monolayer). If a circular group of cells is
removed from the middle of the filled culture dish, the cells on the edges of
the wound will begin to divide, fill the space, and then stop dividing again.
How is the behaviour of transformed cells different from that? (6 marks)

17. Assume that a signalling pathway in the cell is initially triggered by protein
phosphorylation, leading to decreases in cell division. What would be the
effect of a mutation that results in the overexpression of an oncogene coding
for a protein phosphatase that works at the same step in this pathway?
(6 marks)

18. Refer to Figure 16.4. (8 marks)

a. What cells and conditions result in the largest increase in cell number over
a period of 34 days?

b. Which cells show the strongest response to added serum growth factors?

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BIOL 2131: Cell and Molecular Biology

c. What causes the plateau in the graph of normal cells exposed to serum
growth factors?

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