AP Bio Extra Credit

Period:______

Name:_____________________________________

Answer 2 of the 4 questions, each in 1-2 paragraph on a separate page. Hand in all
mechanisms and drawings on this sheet. Due Monday since grades are due Tuesday.
1) Explain why DNA Polymerase performs replication in the 5 3 direction and
not the other way around; answer in terms of charged molecules initiating a
reaction, nucleophilic attack, and tri-phosphate leaving groups.

2) In what ways do pigments harness light energy? AND, for three of the
following four, explain why pigments remain stable when excited.

3) Explain or draw the specific mechanism by which NAD+ carries 2 electrons

and 1 proton; in other words, how does it get reduced/oxidized? Show the
movement of the electrons so you can show, basically, the movement of
energy. (http://web.chem.ucsb.edu/~zhang/chapter%2024 .pdf may be
helpful)

4) Explain the importance of regular/normal post-transcriptional modification

like the addition of a TATA box AND the significance of Rqc2s newly
discovered role in stalled protein production (Peter S. Shen et al. 2015.
Rqc2p and 60S ribosomal subunits mediate mRNA-independent elongation of
nascent chains. Science, vol. 347, no. 6217, pp. 75-78; doi:
10.1126/science.1259724).
Open any introductory biology textbook and one of the first things youll learn is that our
DNA spells out the instructions for making proteins, tiny machines that do much of the work
in our bodys cells. Results from a study published on Jan. 2 in Science defy textbook
science, showing for the first time that the building blocks of a protein, called amino acids,
can be assembled without blueprints DNA and an intermediate template called messenger
RNA (mRNA). A team of researchers has observed a case in which another protein specifies
which amino acids are added.
"This surprising discovery reflects how incomplete our understanding of biology is, says
first author Peter Shen, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry at the University of
Utah.
Ribosomes are machines on a protein assembly line, linking together amino acids in an
order specified by the genetic code. When something goes wrong, the ribosome can stall,
and a quality control crew is summoned to the site. To clean up the mess, the ribosome is
disassembled, the blueprint is discarded, and the partly made protein is recycled.

Yet this study reveals a surprising role for one member of the quality control team, a protein
conserved from yeast to man named Rqc2. Before the incomplete protein is recycled, Rqc2
prompts the ribosomes to add just two amino acids (of a total of 20) alanine and threonine
- over and over, and in any order. Think of an auto assembly line that keeps going despite
having lost its instructions. University of Utah Health Care