For a particular microarray assay (DNA chip), cDNA has been made from the mRNAs of a dozen patients' breast tumor biopsies. Which of the following types of evidence will researchers be looking for in order to determine if the cells are cancerous?

TLS Online TPP Program

#Question id: 1109

#Unit 4. Cell Communication and Cell Signaling

What role do phosphatases play in signal transduction pathways?

TLS Online TPP Program

#Question id: 1110

#Unit 4. Cell Communication and Cell Signaling

If a pharmaceutical company wished to design a drug to maintain low blood sugar levels, one approach might be to design a compound that does which of the following?

TLS Online TPP Program

#Question id: 14740

#Unit 4. Cell Communication and Cell Signaling

Rod cells sense light with the aid of a light-sensitive GPCR known as rhodopsin; choose incorrect statements

a. Rhodopsin consists of the protein opsin, which has the usual seven–transmembrane segment GPCR structure, covalently linked to a light-absorbing pigment called retinal. 

b. Rhodopsin, found only in rod cells, is localized to the thousand or so flattened membrane disks that make up the inner segment of each of these rod-shaped cells.

c. A human rod cell contains about 4 × 10⁷ molecules of rhodopsin. 

d. The heterotrimeric G protein coupled to rhodopsin, called transducin (Gt), contains a Gα unit referred to as Gαt; like rhodopsin, Gαt is found only in rod cells.

TLS Online TPP Program

#Question id: 14739

#Unit 4. Cell Communication and Cell Signaling

In heart muscle, activation series of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor its effector K+ channel via the Gβγ subunit of a Gi protein.

a. Binding of acetylcholine triggers activation of the Gαi subunit and its dissociation from the Gβγ subunit in the usual way. 

b. The released Gβγ subunit (rather than Gαi∙GTP) binds to and opens the associated effector protein, a K+ channel. 

b. The increase in K+ permeability hyperpolarizes the membrane, which reduces the frequency of heart muscle contraction. 

d. Activation is terminated when the GTP bound to Gαi is hydrolyzed (by a GAP enzyme that is an intrinsic part of the Gαi subunit) to GDP and Gαi∙GDP recombines with Gβγ.

TLS Online TPP Program

#Question id: 14738

#Unit 4. Cell Communication and Cell Signaling

Choose correct statements about Muscarinic receptors;

a. An acetylcholine analog, In activated condition, these receptors slow the rate of heart muscle contraction.

b .This type of receptor is coupled to a Gαi protein, and ligand binding leads to the opening of an associated K+ channel.

c .The subsequent influx of K+ ions from the cytosol causes an increase in the magnitude of the usual inside-negative potential across the plasma membrane that lasts for several seconds. 

TLS Online TPP Program

#Question id: 14686

#Unit 4. Cell Communication and Cell Signaling

This member of the AKAP family, designated mAKAP, anchors both PDE and the regulatory subunit  of PKA to the nuclear membrane, maintaining them in a negative feedback loop that provides close local control of the ATP level and PKA activity.

B- The basal level of PDE activity in the presence of hormone (resting state) keeps cAMP levels below those necessary for PKA activation. 

C- Activation of β-adrenergic receptors causes an increase in cAMP to a level in excess of that which can be degraded by PDE. 

D- The resulting binding of cAMP to the R subunits of PKA releases the active catalytic (C) subunits into the cytosol. Some C subunits enter the nucleus, where they phosphorylate and thus activate certain transcription factors . Other C subunits phosphorylate PDE, stimulating its catalytic activity.

E-  Active PDE hydrolyzes cAMP, thereby driving cAMP levels back to basal levels and causing re-formation of the inactive PKA C-R complex. Subsequent de-phosphorylation of PDE returns the complex to the resting state.