Membrane Functions and Structure MCQ Test Bank

Package Title: Test Bank
Course Title: Karp7e

Chapter Number: 4
Question Type: Multiple Choice
1) Which of the following is a function of membranes?
a) compartmentalization
b) selectively permeable barrier
c) mediates intercellular interactions
d) helps cells respond to external stimuli
e) All of these are correct.
Answer: e
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: LO 4.1 Discuss the functions of biological membranes.
Section Reference: Section 4.1 An Overview of Membrane Functions
2) Which of the following is not a function of membranes?
a) transporting solutes
b) scaffold for biochemical activities
c) energy transduction
d) signal transition
e) signal transduction
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: LO 4.1 Discuss the functions of biological membranes.
Section Reference: Section 4.1 An Overview of Membrane Functions
3) What evidence convinced Overton that membranes were composed of lipids?

a) He could see the lipids in the microscope.
b) Membranes were destroyed by enzymes that degraded lipids.
c) He found that more lipid-soluble solutes enter root hair cells faster than polar solutes.
d) Membranes dissolved in gasoline.
e) Membranes did not dissolve in water.
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: LO 4.2 Describe the important roles of the membrane during the life cycle
of a eukaryotic cell.
Section Reference: Section 4.2 A Brief History of Studies on Plasma Membrane Structure
4) Gorter and Grendel extracted lipids from human red blood cells. They calculated the total
surface area for these red blood cells and found it to be 36 µ2. How much surface area would
these lipids cover once they were spread across the surface of water?
a) 72 µ2
b) 36 µ2
c) 18 µ2
d) 144 µ2
e) 30 µ2
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
5) What did Davson and Danielli add to their model of enzyme structure to explain the passage
of polar solutes and ions through the membrane and to account for their selective permeability?
a) They proposed protein-lined pores.

b) They proposed lipid-lined pores.
c) They proposed carbohydrate-lined pores.
d) They proposed a protein coating on the cytoplasmic surface of the membrane.
e) They proposed a carbohydrate coating on the external surface of the membrane.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
6) What are the building blocks of a phosphoglyceride, specifically phosphatidic acid?
a) glycerol + 2 phosphate groups + 1 fatty acid

b) glycerol + 1 phosphate group + 2 fatty acids
c) glycerol + 1 phosphate group
d) glycerol + 3 fatty acids
e) glycerol + 1 phosphate group + 3 fatty acids
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: LO 4.3 Describe the basic structure of the major types of lipids found in
cellular membranes.
Section Reference: Section 4.3 The Chemical Composition of Membranes
7) What word describes a molecule that contains both hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions?
a) amphoteric
b) ambidextrous
c) amphipathic
d) rings
e) straight
Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
cellular membranes.
8) Glycolipids have been shown to play roles in certain disease states in humans and other
mammals. Which of the situations below illustrate the ways in which this can happen?
a) failure to add a sugar to the glycolipid.

b) inhibition of glycolipid synthesis.
c) they are the site at which bacterial toxins like those that cause botulism and cholera first bind
cells.
d) they are the site at which the influenza virus first binds a cell.
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
9) Why did liposomes not work against diseases as hoped when they were first tried?
a) They were degraded in the bloodstream.

b) Immune system phagocytes removed them from the bloodstream before they could exert an
effect.
c) They leaked before getting to their target.
d) They were targeted incorrectly.
e) They expanded osmotically and lysed before reaching their target.
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
10) How are the new "stealth liposomes" protected from immune system phagocytes?
a) They are kept cold before use.

b) They are coated with carbohydrates.
c) They are given a synthetic polymer coating that protects them from immune destruction.
d) They are loaded with radioactive isotopes.
e) They are colored red.
Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
cellular membranes.
11) People who have the AB blood type possess ________.
1) an enzyme that adds an N-acetylgalactosamine to the end of the oligosaccharide chain on

RBC membrane glycolipids
2) an enzyme that adds a galactose to the end of the oligosaccharide chain on RBC membrane
glycolipids
3) an enzyme that adds phospholipids to the end of the oligosaccharide chain on RBC membrane
glycolipids
4) no enzymes capable of attaching galactose or N-acetylgalactosamine to the end of the
oligosaccharide chain on RBC membrane glycolipids
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 1 and 2
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
12) People who have the A blood type possess ________.

glycolipids
glycolipids
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 1 and 2
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
13) People who have the O blood type possess ________.

glycolipids
glycolipids
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 1 and 2
Answer: d
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
14) What kind of membrane protein penetrates into the hydrophobic part of the lipid bilayer?
a) integral protein
b) lipid-anchored protein
c) peripheral proteins
d) phosphatidylcholine
e) galactocerebroside
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: LO 4.4 Elaborate on the three classes of membrane proteins.
Section Reference: Section 4.4 The Structure and Functions of Membrane Proteins
15) What kind of membrane protein is found entirely outside the bilayer on either the
extracellular or cytoplasmic surface? These proteins are covalently linked to a membrane lipid
situated within the bilayer.
a) integral protein
d) carbohydrate-anchored protein
e) transmembrane
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
16) What kind of membrane protein penetrates into the hydrophobic part of the lipid bilayer?
a) integral protein
d) transmembrane protein
e) both integral protein and transmembrane protein
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
17) What technique allows an investigation of the microheterogeneity of a membrane so that one
can see localized differences in different parts of the membrane?
a) freeze-denture replication
b) freeze-fracture replication
c) X-ray crystallography
d) circular dichroism
e) tasty-freeze replication
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
18) Why are integral membrane proteins difficult to study?
a) They are difficult to isolate in soluble form due to their hydrophobic transmembrane domains.
b) They are difficult to isolate in soluble form due to their hydrophilic transmembrane domains.
c) They are so small.
d) They are so large.
e) None of these are correct.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
19) You treat some cells with a proteolytic enzyme that is too large to penetrate the cell
membrane (Set 1). Another group of cells is made permeable before treatment with the enzyme
(Set 2). A third set of cells was not treated with the enzyme at all (controls). Proteins are then
extracted from the three different sets of cells and applied to an SDS-PAGE gel. Protein W
migrates to the same distance on a gel of proteins from Set 1 and Set 2; Protein W migrates a
shorter distance on gels of proteins extracted from the control group than on gels of proteins
extracted from Set 1 and Set 2 treated cells. Protein X migrates to the same distance on a gel of
proteins from control cells and the gels of the proteins from Set 1 and Set 2. Protein Y migrates a
longer distance when extracted from Set 1 cells than does protein Y in the controls; Protein Y
moves an even larger distance in the gel of the extracts from Set 2. Protein Z migrates the same
distance on gels of proteins from the controls and the proteins extracted from Set 1, but it
migrates a longer distance in extracts from Set 2 cells. Which protein is exposed only on the
exterior of the cell?
a) Protein W
b) Protein X
c) Protein Y
d) Protein Z
e) Protein K
Answer: a
Difficulty: Hard
20) Which protein in the Question above is likely to be buried within the membrane?
a) Protein W
b) Protein X
c) Protein Y
d) Protein Z
e) Protein A
Answer: b
Difficulty: Hard
21) Once the structure of one member of a membrane protein family has been determined,
researchers can usually apply a strategy called __________ to learn about the structure and
activity of other members of the family. For example, solution of the structure of the bacterial
potassium channel KcsA provided a lot of data that could be applied to the structure and
mechanism of action of the much more complex eukaryotic potassium channels.
a) heterology modeling
b) homology mapping
c) homology modeling
d) protein mapping
e) homologous characterization
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
22) On average, how many amino acids engaged in predominantly hydrophobic a- helices does
it take to cross the hydrophobic part of the membrane?
a) about 10 amino acids

b) about 20 amino acids
c) at least 40 amino acids
d) about 2 – 3 amino acids
e) None of these are correct.
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
23) What word below characterizes the amino acids that are found in an a-helical segment that
spans a membrane?
a) exclusively circular
b) predominantly hydrophilic
c) predominantly hydrophobic
d) predominantly antiparallel
e) totally parallel
Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
24) What technique below is often used to identify transmembrane segments of integral proteins?
a) Lineweaver-Burk plot
b) Michaelis-Menten plot
c) hydrophilicity plot
d) hydropathy plot
e) titration plot
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
25) A procedure in which the gene for an integral membrane protein is altered in such a way that
the spatial relationships between some of the amino acids in the protein can be revealed is called
________.
a) site-directed mutagenesis
b) site-directed amenuensis
c) hydropathy plots
d) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy
e) infrared spectroscopy
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
26) Which of the following can be learned from a computer-based (computational) analysis of
the amino acid sequence of a membrane protein, which can be readily deduced from the
nucleotide sequence of its isolated gene?
a) its structure
b) its color
c) its orientation within the lipid bilayer
d) its population in each cell
e) both its structure and its orientation within the lipid bilayer
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
27) What amino acid is made to replace another amino acid in membrane-spanning a-helices by
site-directed mutagenesis of the gene coding for the protein? This is done in order to determine
how close together two such a-helices are in the structure of an integral protein. The amino acid
is added to facilitate the formation of crosslinks between a-helices that are in close proximity.
a) phenylalanine
b) alanine
c) cysteine
d) methionine
e) proline
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
28) What technique can clarify the dynamic events that occur as a protein functions by
introducing into the protein chemical groups (called nitroxides) that contain an unpaired
electron? The properties of these nitroxides are sensitive to the distance that separates them and
the unpaired electron produces a characteristic spectrum that can be monitored by the technique
in question. The technique yields information about the distance between selected protein
residues.
a) site-directed mutagenesis
b) site-directed amenuensis
c) hydropathy plots
d) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy
e) infrared spectroscopy
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
29) Which of the following is not a function of peripheral proteins?
a) mechanical support for membrane

b) enzymes
c) receptors
d) anchor for integral proteins
e) factors that transmit transmembrane signals
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
30) What enzyme was instrumental in the discovery of GPI-anchored proteins? It was found that
this enzyme would release certain membrane proteins from a membrane.
a) phospholipase
b) lipase
c) hydroxyurease
d) protease
e) trypsin
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
31) The temperature at which a lipid bilayer shifts from a fluid state to a crystalline gel is called
the _____.
a) transition temperature
b) temperature optimum
c) transition series
d) pH optimum
e) gelation temperature
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: LO 4.5 Explain why and when membrane fluidity is important to a cell.
Section Reference: Section 4.5 Membrane Lipids and Membrane Fluidity
32) What directly or indirectly determines the transition temperature?
a) the ability of lipid molecules to be packed together

b) whether the fatty acid chains of the lipids are saturated or unsaturated
c) the extent to which the fatty acid chains of the lipids contain double bonds
d) the length of the fatty acid chains
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
33) What property of membranes allows interactions to take place within the membrane,
including the assembly of membrane protein clusters at particular sites and the formation of
specialized structures?
a) hydrophobicity
b) hydrophilicity
c) membrane fluidity
d) their amphipathic nature
e) their amphoteric nature
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
34) While culturing some cells, you lower the temperature of the culture. What happens
immediately to the membrane fluidity?
a) Nothing happens.
b) The membrane becomes less fluid.
c) The membrane becomes more fluid.
d) The membrane fluidity fluctuates back and forth from high to low.
e) The membrane fluidity fluctuates back and forth from low to high.
Answer: b
Difficulty: Hard
35) Which of the following cell processes depend on the movement of membrane components
and would probably not be possible if membranes were rigid, nonfluid structures?
a) cell movement
b) cell division
c) formation of intercellular junctions
d) endocytosis
Answer: e
Difficulty: Easy
36) Which of the following genetic diseases is characterized by fragile, abnormally shaped
erythrocytes and has been traced to mutations in ankyrin or spectrin?
a) hemophilia
b) sickle cell anemia
c) hemolytic anemias
d) leukemia
e) erythroblastosis
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: LO 4.6 Describe two techniques for measuring the rates of diffusion of a
specific membrane protein.
Section Reference: Section 4.6 The Dynamic Nature of the Plasma Membrane
37) Hemolytic anemias are characterized by fragile, abnormally shaped erythrocytes; the disease
has been traced to mutations in ________.
a) actin
b) ankyrin
c) hemoglobin
d) spectrin
e) both ankyrin and spectrin
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
38) How was the asymmetry of membrane lipids discovered?
a) The lipid asymmetry was visualized in the electron microscope.

b) The lipid asymmetry was observed with a special stain in the light microscope.
c) Treatment of intact red blood cells with phospholipases.
d) Treatment of intact red blood cells with trypsin.
e) Treatment of liver cells with phospholipases.
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
39) Which of the following is not a potential biological role of the lipid asymmetry of the plasma
membrane?
a) The glycolipids in the outer leaflet of the membrane may serve as receptors.
b) The presence of phosphatidylinositol primarily in the inner leaflet is involved in signal
transduction.
c) Maintenance of a charge differential in the two membrane leaflets.
d) Appearance of phosphatidylserine on the outer surface of aging lymphocytes marks them for
destruction by macrophages.
e) Phosphatidylserine on the surface of platelets serves as a signal for blood solubilization.
Answer: e
Difficulty: Easy
cellular membranes.
40) Phosphatidylethanolamine is concentrated in the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane and
tends to promote the curvature of the membrane, which is important in _________.
a) membrane budding
b) membrane fragmentation
c) membrane fusion
d) signal transduction
e) both membrane budding and membrane fusion
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
41) When membrane lipids are extracted from cells and used to prepare artificial lipid bilayers,
cholesterol and sphingolipids tend to self-assemble into ________ that are more gelated and
highly ordered than surrounding regions consisting primarily of _________.
a) macrodomains, phosphoglycerides
b) microdomains, integral proteins
c) microdomains, phosphoglycerides
d) liquid crystals, phosphoglycerides
e) liquid crystals, microdomains
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
42) They are more gelated and highly ordered than the surrounding more fluid and disordered
regions in artificial membranes that consist primarily of phosphoglycerides. They contain higher
concentrations of sphingolipids and cholesterol and certain proteins become concentrated within
them. What are they?
a) lipid islands
b) collections
c) lipid rafts
d) lipid domains
e) dense bilayers
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
43) Enzymes that move certain phospholipids between leaflets have also which of the following
properties?
a) Play a role in establishing and maintaining membrane lipid asymmetry

b) Interacts with neighboring epithelial cells, or the basal membrane
c) Blocks post-synaptic membrane
d) Transport proteins
e) All of the above
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
44) You have fused a mouse cell and a human cell and then treated the cell with specific
antibodies that are covalently linked to fluorescent dyes (antibodies to mouse proteins – green;
antibodies to human proteins – red). What does the cell look like immediately after fusion?
a) The cell is half red and half green.

b) The red and green labels are uniformly distributed across the entire membrane.
c) The red and green labels are distributed in intermingled patches.
d) The cell appears to be yellow in color.
e) The cell appears to be brown in color.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Hard
45) _________ can be used to trap integral proteins and drag them through the membrane with a
known force, using forces generated by a focused laser beam. This yields information about the
presence of membrane barriers.
a) FRAP
b) SPT
c) Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching
d) Optical tweezers
e) SDS-PAGE
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
46) Usually, optical tweezers drag integral proteins a limited distance before they encounter a
barrier that causes their release; upon release, they typically spring backward. What does this
suggest?
a) the presence of solid barriers

b) the presence of elastic barriers
c) the attachment of the proteins to the cytoskeleton
d) the attachment of the proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum
e) the presence of rubber in the membrane
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
47) You modify the gene for an integral membrane protein so that the cytoplasmic portions of the
protein are deleted. When the gene is inserted in cells, what happens to the mobility of this
protein in the membrane?
a) They move much greater distances than the intact protein.
b) They move much smaller distances than the intact protein.
c) They do not move at all.
d) They are not inserted into the membrane so nothing can be learned about their mobility.
e) They flip to the opposite leaflet.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
48) Integral membrane proteins have been engineered to lack the portion that normally projects
into the extracellular space. When the gene is inserted in cells, what happens to the mobility of
this protein in the membrane?
a) They move at a much greater rate than the wild type protein.
b) They move at a much smaller rate than the intact protein.
c) They do not move at all.
d) They are not inserted into the membrane so nothing can be learned about their mobility.
e) They flip to the opposite leaflet.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
49) What happens to phospholipid mobility when the cell is treated with agents that disrupt the
underlying membrane skeleton?
a) Their mobility is unchanged.

b) Their mobility is increased because the fences that normally restrict their diffusion are
removed.
c) Their mobility is decreased because the fences that normally restrict their diffusion are
removed.
d) Their mobility is increased because the treatment raises the temperature.
e) Their mobility is decreased because the treatment lowers the temperature.
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
50) Why are the proteins being separated on an SDS polyacrylamide gel attracted equally to the
positive electrode?
a) They carry a relatively uniform positive charge distribution

b) They carry a relatively uniform negative charge distribution.
c) They are all the same molecular weight.
d) They are all the same size.
e) They all have the same degree of hydrophobicity.
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
51) Which proteins move the farthest during SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis?
a) the largest
b) the smallest
c) the most negative
d) the most positive
e) both the largest and the most negative
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
52) Which protein in the red blood cell membrane appears to be responsible for the exchange of
bicarbonate ions and chloride ions across the red blood cell membrane?
a) glycophorin A
b) glycophorin D
c) band 3
d) glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate
e) alpha-actinin
Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
53) Which protein(s) below is(are) thought to be involved in and influence the stability of red
blood cell membranes and the cells themselves by imparting strength, elasticity, and pliability to
the membrane?
a) actin and tropomyosin

b) spectrin
c) band 3
d) ankyrin
Answer: e
Difficulty: Medium
54) _________ is the movement of a substance from an area of high concentration to an area of
lower concentration.
a) Denaturation
b) Osmosis
c) Diffusion
d) Transport
e) Defusion
Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: LO 4.7 Explain how substances move across the cell membrane.
Section Reference: Section 4.7 The Movement of Substances Across Cell Membranes
55) In what way can a given solute get through a membrane?
1) The solute can pass through the bilayer.

2) The solute can pass through cholesterol.
3) The solute can pass through an aqueous channel.
4) The solute can pass through a pore.
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 1, 3 and 4
Answer: e
Difficulty: Easy
56) The movement of water through a semipermeable membrane from a region of lower solute
concentration to a region of higher solute concentration is called ________.
a) diffusion
b) osmosis
c) denaturation
d) metabolism
e) solubility
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
57) A channel that opens in response to changes in ionic charge across a membrane is called a
________.
a) voltage-gated channel
b) charge-gated channel
c) ligand-gated channel
d) positive-gated channel
e) electric-gated channel
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
58) What is thought to be important in maintaining the native structure of the Kv channel
membrane protein and promoting its function as a voltage-gated channel.
a) negatively charged cholesterol

b) positively charged sphingolipids
c) negatively charged phospholipids
d) positively charged phospholipids
e) negatively charged sphingolipids
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
59) A channel that opens in response to the binding of a specific molecule, which is usually not
the solute that passes through the channel is called a ________.
a) voltage-gated channel
b) charge-gated channel
c) ligand-gated channel
d) positive-gated channel
e) electric-gated channel
Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
60) Diffusion during which the substance to be transported binds selectively to a membrane-
spanning protein, which helps the process along, is called ________.
a) osmosis
b) facilitated osmosis
c) simple diffusion
d) facilitated diffusion
e) active transport
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
61) An important aspect of transport by facilitated transporters and pumps is ________.
a) conformational shifts
b) rigidity
c) softness
d) a-helix
e) b-pleated sheet
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
62) The sodium-potassium pump makes the cell interior more ______ by pumping ____ sodium
ions out of the cell for every ____ potassium ions pumped in.
a) negative, 3, 2
b) negative, 2, 3
c) positive, 3, 2
d) positive, 2, 3
e) negative, 4, 3
Answer: a
Difficulty: Hard
63) What is the distinguishing characteristic of a P-type pump?
a) It must be pumped during the cycle.

b) It must be phosphorylated during the cycle.
c) It must be protonated during the cycle.
d) It must be deprotonated during the cycle.
e) It must be potassiumated during the cycle.
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
64) In the Na+/glucose cotransporter, _____ moving down its gradient drives the transport of
_____ against its gradient.
a) Na+ ions, K+ ions

b) Na+ ions, glucose
c) glucose, Na+ ions
d) glucose, K+ ions
e) K+ ions, glucose
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
65) A transport system that moves one solute into the cell and another one out of the cell during a
single cycle accompanied by the expenditure of energy through ATP hydrolysis could be called
a(n) _______
a) active antiport
b) active uniport
c) passive antiport
d) active symport
e) passive symport
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
66) The ability, possessed by all organisms, to respond to external stimulation is known as
_______.
a) excitation
b) irritability
c) irritation
d) irrigation
e) irrigatability
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: LO 4.8 Discuss resting potential, action potential, and the process of nerve
impulses.
Section Reference: Section 4.8 Membrane Potentials and Nerve Impulses
67) Where is the neuron cell nucleus located?
a) axon hillock
b) cell body
c) dendrites
d) axon
e) terminal knob
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
68) Which site in a neuron receives incoming information from external sources?
a) Dendrites
b) Axon
c) Axon hillock
d) Terminal knob
e) Cell body
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
69) Which part of a neuron conducts impulses away from the cell body toward the target cell(s)?
a) axon hillock
b) cell body
c) dendrites
d) axon
e) terminal knob
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
70) As an action potential is initiated, the membrane is ______. This is caused by the ____ of
____ ions.
a) hyperpolarized, efflux, Na+

b) depolarized, influx, Na+
c) depolarized, influx, K+
d) hyperpolarized, influx, Na+
e) depolarized, efflux, Na+
Answer: b
Difficulty: Hard
impulses.
71) How do Na+ ions enter a neuron when an action potential is initiated?
a) the Na+/K+-ATPase
b) a gated Na+ pump
c) a voltage-gated Na+ channel
d) the ligand-gated Na+ channel
e) a voltage-gated Na+ facilitated transporter
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
72) What causes the membrane potential to return to the normal negative value after an action
potential has occurred?
a) opening of a voltage-gated K+ channel

b) opening of a voltage-gated Na+ channel
c) closing of a voltage-gated K+ channel
d) opening of a ligand-gated Na+ channel
e) opening of a voltage-gated K+ facilitated transporter
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
73) What is caused by the inability of Na+ ion channels to open for several milliseconds after
their inactivation?
a) hyperpolarization
b) depolarization
c) termination
d) a refractory period
e) an action potential
Answer: d
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
74) What is thought to cause the sodium channels that initiate an action potential to be
inactivated for a brief time after being open for about 1 msec?
a) a higher positive charge

b) a higher negative charge
c) the random diffusion of an inactivation peptide into the opening of the channel pore
d) removal of a peptide from the channel protein
e) covalent addition of a peptide to the cytoplasmic end of the channel protein
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
75) What causes the refractory period in sodium channels after an action potential has been
initiated? The sodium channel cannot be restimulated during this period.
1) The sodium channels must close before they can be reopened in response to another stimulus.
2) The ion channel can only transform from the inactivated to the closed conformation after the
inactivating peptide has swung out of the pore opening.
3) The ion channel can only transform from the closed to the inactivated conformation after the
inactivating peptide has swung out of the pore opening.
4) The inactivating peptide must bind to the pore opening more tightly before the channel can be
restimulated.
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 1 and 2
Answer: e
Difficulty: Hard
impulses.
76) What happens after a subthreshold depolarization?
a) a full action potential

b) a partial action potential
c) no action potential
d) a proportional action potential
e) a reversal of the direction of the neural impulse
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
77) Where in a myelinated axon are nearly all of the ion channels concentrated?
a) the cell body

b) nodes of Ranvier
c) dendrites
d) axon terminals
e) neuron nucleus
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
78) Impulse propagation by a myelinated axon is called ________ conduction.
a) saltatory
b) myelinated
c) rapid fire
d) jump stop
e) leap frog
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
79) Which disease below is caused by the deterioration of the myelin sheath?
a) myasthenia gravis
b) multiple sclerosis
c) muscular dystrophy
d) diabetes mellitus
e) lupus erythematosus
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
80) How is a nerve impulse usually transmitted across a synapse from a presynaptic to a
postsynaptic cell?
a) via a direct connection

b) via a spark
c) via a neurotransmitter
d) via Na+ ions
e) via plasmodesmata
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
81) ______ trigger fusion of synaptic vesicles with the synaptic membranes of the presynaptic
cell. This same stimulus also triggers ________.
a) Ca2+ ions, exocytosis

b) Ca2+ ions, endocytosis
c) acetylcholine, exocytosis
d) acetylcholine, endocytosis
e) Na+ ions, exocytosis
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
82) Cocaine acts by _________.
a) enhancing the degradation of acetylcholine.

b) depressing the degradation of acetylcholine
c) interfering with dopamine reuptake from the synaptic cleft
d) enhancing dopamine reuptake from the synaptic cleft
e) destroying dopamine in the synapse
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
83) Tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, binds to receptors located in the
________ terminals of certain brain neurons. It lowers the likelihood that these neurons will
release ________.
a) postsynaptic, neurotransmitters
b) presynaptic, neurotransmitters
c) presynaptic, Ca2+ ions
d) postsynaptic, Ca2+ ions
e) dendritic, neurotransmitters
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
84) ___________ is a process that strengthens certain synapses by repeated neuron stimulation
over a short time period.
a) Denturation
b) Long term potentiation
c) Short term memory
d) Temporality
e) Long term deviation
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
85) Long-term potentiation is associated with NMDA receptors, one of several types of receptors
that bind to the excitatory neurotransmitter _______. Its binding opens an internal cation channel
within the receptor that allows _____ influx into the postsynaptic neuron, triggering a cascade of
biochemical changes that lead to synaptic strengthening.
a) GABA, Ca2+ ion
b) glutamate, Ca2+ ion
c) glutamate, K+ ion
d) GABA, K+ ion
e) acetylcholine, Ca2+ ion
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
impulses.
86) Synaptic malfunction or dysfunction may cause which of the following diseases?
a) myasthenia gravis
b) Parkinson's disease
c) schizophrenia
d) depression
Answer: e
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
Question Type: Essay
87) In the 1950s, J. D. Robertson reported that any membrane that he observed in the electron
microscope looked the same. This led to his proposal of the Unit Membrane model of membrane
structure suggesting that all membranes were exactly alike. Why was this model eventually
rejected?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
Solution: It was eventually discovered that different membranes varied in many respects. The
ratio of lipid to protein varies based on the type of membrane and/or the cell. The types of lipids
and proteins in each membrane also varied.
88) You are the biologist on an interstellar spacecraft and discover a life form. It appears similar
to life forms on Earth. You extract a number of molecules from the organism and characterize
them. From the described properties, what kind of molecules are they likely to be and where are
they likely to be found?
A. an amphipathic molecule that has two long hydrocarbon chains and a polar oligosaccharide
head group.
B. another amphipathic molecule with two hydrocarbon chains and a phosphate-containing head
group.
C. a polymer made of amino acids with hydrophobic amino acids on its outer surface in the
middle of the molecule and hydrophilic amino acids on its outer surface on each end of the
molecule.
Answer:
Difficulty: Hard
Solution: A. This molecule is probably a glycolipid ganglioside found in the outer leaflet of a
membrane with the oligosaccharide facing the extracellular environment.
B. This molecule is probably a phospholipid. The polar head group faces either the cytoplasmic
or extracellular surface of the membrane.
C. This is a membrane-spanning protein that may serve as a transmembrane transporter protein.
89) You are exploring a rather inhospitable planet, which has seas that are somewhat
hydrophobic in nature. Surprisingly, there are living organisms in the seas whose cytoplasm is
hydrophobic to a similar degree. These organisms have membranes made primarily of
phospholipids arranged in a bilayer. What is the most probable orientation of these
phospholipids?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
Solution: The polar heads of the phospholipids face toward the middle of the bilayer with the
hydrophobic fatty acid tails facing outward.
90) How might a liposome be prepared that could potentially be used in the treatment of a tumor
whose cells have a protein called tumor cell antigen (TCA) in their membranes? This protein is
missing from all normal cells.
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
Solution: Make an antibody to the TCA protein and insert it into the liposome membrane. Fill the
interior of the liposome with a chemical toxic to cells. These liposomes should attach to tumor
cells and be internalized after which the toxic chemicals should kill the tumor cells.
91) You are characterizing an isolated membrane protein. The protein is exposed on both sides of
the membrane. Over much of the central part of its surface, there are hydrophobic amino acids,
while the ends are hydrophilic. It crosses the membrane a number of times. There is an opening
in the center of this protein lined by hydrophilic amino acids. What kind of protein is this and
what is its probable function?
Answer:
Difficulty: Hard
Solution: It is a polytopic protein (a protein that crosses the membrane more than once with a-
helical segments) that probably serves as a channel to transport ions or other polar solutes.
92) You are investigating the transition temperature of a membrane, the origin of which you do
not know. The temperature of transition for this membrane is very sharp, occurring over an
extremely narrow range of temperatures. What can you say about the composition of the
membrane?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: It is probably composed of a single phospholipid or, at most, two or three
phospholipids.
93) You determine the transition temperatures for two membranes. The first has a transition
temperature of 28°C, the second a transition temperature of 15°C. What can you conclude about
the compositions of the two membranes?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: The first probably has lipids with longer hydrocarbon chains and/or a higher degree of
saturation than the second.
94) A molecule normally enters a cell by simple diffusion through the lipid bilayer. What
happens if you artificially reverse the molecule's concentration gradient?
Answer:
Difficulty: Easy
Solution: The molecule moves out of the cell.
95) A membrane's transition temperature is determined and found to stretch over a wide range of
temperatures. The membrane also exhibits high stability and a reduced permeability similar to
that in most mammals. What membrane component is responsible for these traits and how does it
do it?
Answer:
Difficulty: Hard
Solution: Cholesterol alters the way hydrocarbon chains pack together and is responsible for
these traits.
96) In the middle of the winter, the membranes from a tissue sample from an organism dwelling
in a pond are analyzed for their phospholipid content. In the middle of the summer, another
tissue sample is taken from the same type of organism and the membrane lipid content
determined. The lipid content has changed. How has it changed and why?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: The lipids have become more saturated and longer to allow more contact between
phospholipids. This should decrease membrane fluidity, which would be required in the warmer
summer environment.
97) A rat cell and a chimpanzee cell are fused together. Antibodies to chimpanzee membrane
antigens are labeled with rhodamine (a red fluorescent molecule) and antibodies against rat
antigens are labeled with fluorescein (a green fluorescent molecule). What do the cells look like
immediately after fusion? What about 40 minutes later? If the temperature of the cell is
increased, what should happen?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: Immediately after fusion, half of the cell will fluoresce green, the other half red. After
40 minutes, the red and green fluorescent markers should be evenly distributed across the cell
surface. Given that when red and green light mix they are perceived as yellow, the cell may
appear yellow. If the temperature of the cell is increased, the membrane proteins should become
randomly distributed around the cell surface at a higher rate.
98) You are studying a transport molecule. It appears to bind temporarily to the molecule to be
transported. During normal transport, no energy is expended. The addition of a particular
molecule that closely resembles the normally transported molecule inhibits transport. An increase
in the concentration of the normally transported molecule in the presence of a constant
concentration of the inhibitor increases the rate of transport. What kind of transport is described
and what is the inhibiting molecule?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: This is an example of facilitated diffusion. The molecule is a competitive inhibitor of
transport.
99) If you were able to study nerve conduction in vitro and you added ouabain, an inhibitor of
the Na+-K+ ATPase, to the system, would you expect to see the conduction of nerve impulses
cease immediately?
Answer:
Difficulty: Hard
impulses.
Solution: No, the gradient established by the pump is so large and the number of ions involved in
each action potential so small that a number of impulses may occur before the gradients are
dissipated.
100) A process in liver cells stops when they are exposed to the inhibitor ouabain, which is an
inhibitor of the Na+-K+ pump. What do you conclude about the liver cell process?
Answer:
Difficulty: Hard
impulses.
Solution: The Na+-K+ pump is involved in the process in some way, since it is known that
ouabain inhibits the Na+-K+ pump. It may supply energy needed to drive the process (in the
form of Na+ and/or K+ gradients) or maintain Na+ and K+ ion concentrations at the levels and in
the compartments required for the process to occur.
101) The rate of nerve impulse conduction in two different nerve cell axons differs. The first cell
exhibits a rate of conduction substantially higher (about 20 times faster) than the second cell.
Both cells have axons of the same diameter. What is a possible explanation for the difference in
nerve conduction rate?
Answer:
Difficulty: Easy
impulses.
Solution: The cell exhibiting the highest conduction rate probably has a myelinated axon.
102) What are some possible explanations for the tendency of CF patients to develop chronic
lung infections?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: First, the decrease in Cl- efflux from epithelial cells caused by the defective or absent
CFTR will lead to a decrease in water leaving the cells by osmosis. This leads to a decrease in
the volume of fluid bathing the epithelial cells of the airways, which will, in turn, cause an
increase in the viscosity of the mucus secreted by these cells. The elevated viscosity may
adversely affect the functioning of the cilia that are responsible for pushing mucus and bacteria
(and other particles) out of the respiratory tract. The bacteria will then have an increased chance
of causing an infection.
103) A new, promising drug in the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) and the improvement in the
quality of life in CF patients is Bronchitol. What is Bronchitol's overall effect on the patient that
allows it to improve their situation? What sugar is a major constituent of Bronchitol? How does
Bronchitol cause water to move into the extracellular fluid of the airways after being inhaled?
What other kinds of compounds might be used in CF treatment in the future?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: It helps to increase the volume of the airway surface liquid and improve ciliary
function. Mannitol is a major constituent of Bronchitol. Once inhaled, the dissolved mannitol
increases the osmolarity of the airway surface liquid. This causes water to move from the
relatively hypotonic epithelial cells surrounding the airway into the now relatively hypertonic
extracellular fluids by osmosis. Compounds that have the potential to increase the volume of
surface fluid by altering the movement of ions into or out of the epithelial cells might also help in
CF treatment by a similar mechanism. For example, Na+-channel inhibitors like Denufosol have
the potential to reduce Na+ ion absorption from the airway fluid into the epithelium. Also,
activators of Cl- channels (other than CFTR) like Moli-1901 have the potential to increase Cl-
ion conductance from the epithelium into the airway. This would also presumably increase the
osmolarity of the airway surface liquid and cause water to move out of epithelial cells and into
the airway surface liquid, making it less viscous.
104) How might a lack of Cl- transport cause the respiratory tract symptoms of cystic fibrosis
(CF), specifically the thickened mucus?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: When Cl- is transported across the membrane, water follows it by osmosis, diluting the
mucus in the respiratory tract and making it thinner. A defect in chloride ion transport will result
in less water movement out of the cell and hence thicker mucus.
105) How was it proved that the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)
was actually a chloride transporter?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: The gene responsible for cystic fibrosis was identified and its sequence determined.
This allowed the amino acid sequence of the corresponding protein to be deduced and it became
apparent that the polypeptide was a member of the ABC transporter superfamily. It was then
named the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator or CFTR. CFTR was then
purified, incorporated into artificial lipid bilayers and shown to be a cAMP-regulated chloride
channel, not a transporter.
106) What complications in the story of the CFTR and its relationship to CF have been
introduced by subsequent studies?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: CFTR also conducts bicarbonate (HCO3- ions), suppresses the activity of an epithelial
Na+ ion channel (ENaC) and stimulates the activity of a family of epithelial chloride/bicarbonate
exchangers.
107) People with the most severe cases of CF transport no chloride ions, while people with less
severe cases transport some Cl- ions. What is a possible explanation of this?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: People with severe cases of CF are unable to place the transporter in their membranes.
People with less severe forms of CF can place transporters in the membrane, but they do not
transport Cl- ions as efficiently as does the normal transport molecule.
108) The majority of alleles responsible for CF in the United States contain the same genetic
alteration, designated DF508. What is the significance of this alteration and how does it lead to
CF?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: The DF508 genetic alteration involves a missing nucleotide triplet that encodes a
phenylalanine at position 508 within one of the cytoplasmic domains of the CFTR polypeptide.
CFTR polypeptides lacking this particular amino acid are not processed normally in the
endoplasmic reticulum membranes and consequently never reach the surface of the epithelial
cells. Individuals homozygous for this allele are unable to move Cl- ions across their membranes,
leading to the symptoms of CF.
109) The CF mutation is present at very high levels within the Caucasian population and is
thought to have arisen more than 50,000 years ago to reach its present level. Since an individual
homozygous for the recessive mutant allele has such poor health, what could explain this allele
rising to such a high level in the population?
Answer:
Difficulty: Hard
Solution: The high frequency of the defective allele suggests that the heterozygotes may receive
some selective advantage over those individuals lacking a copy of the defective gene. Some
investigators have proposed that CF heterozygotes may be protected from the effects of cholera,
a disease characterized by excessive fluid secretion by the intestinal wall. Since a faulty form of
the CF gene would cut down transport of Cl- ions and the subsequent movement of water by
osmosis, this might cut down fluid loss in those suffering from cholera. However, the lack of
recorded cholera epidemics in Europe prior to the 1820s leads to difficulties with this particular
proposal. It has also been suggested that heterozygotes are protected from typhoid fever because
the bacterium responsible for this disease adheres poorly to the wall of an intestine possessing a
reduced number of CFTR molecules, thereby affording such individuals some protection.
110) Where cells are the most affected by CF? Describe two potential treatments for these
symptoms. What are the advantages and disadvantages of lipid-based delivery of the normal
CFTR gene?
Answer:
Difficulty: Hard
Solution: Cells lining the airways are most affected; these epithelial cells exhibit defective
activities that lead to the symptoms of CF. Since the epithelial cells affected by CF line the
airways, they are accessible to agents that can be delivered by inhalation. A defective adenovirus
containing the wild-type CFTR gene (a recombinant viral particle) has been used in one
treatment. These defective adenoviruses can enter the cells of the upper respiratory tract, but
cannot cause illness. When they enter the cells, they introduce the wild type CFTR gene that
temporarily replaces the faulty gene. Since the viral DNA carrying the normal CFTR gene does
not become integrated into the chromosomes of the infected host cell, the virus must be
readministered frequently. As a result, the procedure often induces an immune response within
the patient that eliminates the virus and leads to lung inflammation. The same general result can
be achieved by introducing positively charged liposomes carrying the wild type CFTR gene into
the lungs and airways. There they fuse with the plasma membranes of epithelial cells and deliver
the wild type CFTR gene to the cytoplasm of these cells. Both treatments have been successful
temporarily, but neither has resulted in significant improvement of either physiologic processes
or disease symptoms. Liposomes have the advantage that they are less likely to stimulate
destructive immune responses in patients following repeated treatments. They have the
disadvantage of being less effective in achieving genetic modification of the target cells.
111) If Gorter and Grendel, as described in the figure below, extracted lipids from the
membranes of red blood cells and determined that they covered 96 mm2 of water, what would
you estimate as the surface area of the red blood cells from which the lipids were extracted?
Answer:
Difficulty: Easy
Solution: 48 mm2
112) Why would the transmembrane portion of membrane proteins shown in the figure below be
unlikely to be composed of an a-helix made of hydrophilic amino acids?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: The amino acids in the membrane-spanning portion of the protein must be hydrophobic
so that they can interact with the hydrophobic lipid bilayer.
113) What disease is caused by the disruption of the structure depicted in the figure below?
Answer:
Difficulty: Easy
cellular membranes.
Solution: The structure is the myelin sheath and the disease is multiple sclerosis.
114) How do the cholesterol molecules depicted in the figure below enhance membrane fluidity?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
Solution: They interfere with tight packing of membrane phospholipids, thus enhancing fluidity.
115) In the figure below, why is the stealth liposome coated with polyethylene glycol? What
directs the stealth liposome to its target body tissue? Where are lipid-soluble drugs and water-
soluble drugs found in stealth liposomes?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
Solution: The polyethylene glycol will protect the stealth liposome from destruction by immune
cells. Antibodies in the stealth liposome membrane will target it to the specific body tissues for
which it is intended. The lipid-soluble drugs are found in the stealth liposome's lipid bilayer and
the water-soluble drugs are found in the fluid-filled interior chamber of the stealth liposome.
116) In the figure below, N- and O-glycosidic linkages are depicted. Why are these linkages
called N- and O-glycosidic linkages?
Answer:
cellular membranes.
Solution: N-glycosidic linkages are made through the amino group of the amino acid asparagine
leading to the N designation. O-glycosidic linkages, on the other hand, are made through the
hydroxyl group of serine or threonine and are thus referred to as O-glycosidic linkages.
117) The figure below shows the oligosaccharides attached to membrane lipids thus forming
gangliosides that determine the A, B and O blood groups.
a) A person with which blood type would have gangliosides with terminal fucose residues
exposed on their glycolipids?
b) A person with which blood type would have gangliosides with terminal fucose and N-
acetylgalactosamine residues exposed on their glycolipids?
c) A person with which blood type would have gangliosides with terminal fucose and galactose
residues on their glycolipids?
d) A person with which blood type would have gangliosides with terminal fucose, N-
acetylgalactosamine and galactose residues exposed on their glycolipids?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
cellular membranes.
Solution: a) O blood type.
b) A blood type.
c) B blood type.
d) AB blood type.
118) Look at the hydropathy plot in the figure below. How many transmembrane domains are
indicated for glycophorin A in the plot? What is the approximate position of the stretch of amino
acids that spans the membrane?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Section Reference: Section 4.4 The Structure and Functions of Membrane Proteins Solution:
One. The membrane-spanning portion of the protein is approximately between amino acid
residues 60 and 89.
119) In the figure below, the bilayer shown is below the transition temperature and the movement
of the molecules is greatly restricted. What words can be used to describe this bilayer?
Answer:
Difficulty: Easy
Solution: Crystalline gel.
120) Why would flip-flop of membrane phospholipids as seen in the figure below be so rare?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: For flip-flop to occur, it would be necessary for the hydrophilic head of a phospholipid
to move through the hydrophobic part of the bilayer, an extremely unlikely event.
121) In the figure below, what color should the fused mouse and human cell be 40 minutes after
the fusion has occurred?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Solution: The fluorescent green and red antibodies would be evenly distributed across the cell
surface. A mixture of red and green light is perceived by humans to be yellow, rather than a
mixture of red and green patches, so the cell would be yellow.

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Package Title: Test Bank

Course Title: Karp7e

Question Type: Multiple Choice

1) Which of the following is a function of membranes?

2) Which of the following is not a function of membranes?

3) What evidence convinced Overton that membranes were composed of lipids?

a) They proposed protein-lined pores.

6) What are the building blocks of a phosphoglyceride, specifically phosphatidic acid?

a) glycerol + 2 phosphate groups + 1 fatty acid

a) failure to add a sugar to the glycolipid.

a) They were degraded in the bloodstream.

a) They are kept cold before use.

11) People who have the AB blood type possess ________.

1) an enzyme that adds an N-acetylgalactosamine to the end of the oligosaccharide chain on

12) People who have the A blood type possess ________.

1) an enzyme that adds an N-acetylgalactosamine to the end of the oligosaccharide chain on

13) People who have the O blood type possess ________.

1) an enzyme that adds an N-acetylgalactosamine to the end of the oligosaccharide chain on

18) Why are integral membrane proteins difficult to study?

a) about 10 amino acids

29) Which of the following is not a function of peripheral proteins?

a) mechanical support for membrane

32) What directly or indirectly determines the transition temperature?

a) the ability of lipid molecules to be packed together

a) The lipid asymmetry was visualized in the electron microscope.

a) Play a role in establishing and maintaining membrane lipid asymmetry

a) The cell is half red and half green.

a) the presence of solid barriers

a) Their mobility is unchanged.

a) They carry a relatively uniform positive charge distribution

a) actin and tropomyosin

55) In what way can a given solute get through a membrane?

1) The solute can pass through the bilayer.

a) negatively charged cholesterol

61) An important aspect of transport by facilitated transporters and pumps is ________.

63) What is the distinguishing characteristic of a P-type pump?

a) It must be pumped during the cycle.

a) Na+ ions, K+ ions

67) Where is the neuron cell nucleus located?

a) hyperpolarized, efflux, Na+

a) opening of a voltage-gated K+ channel

a) a higher positive charge

76) What happens after a subthreshold depolarization?

a) a full action potential

a) the cell body

78) Impulse propagation by a myelinated axon is called ________ conduction.

a) via a direct connection

a) Ca2+ ions, exocytosis

82) Cocaine acts by _________.

a) enhancing the degradation of acetylcholine.

Question Type: Essay

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