The Norway rat (Rattus Norvegicus), a widespread pest, was controlled for about a decade by the anticoagulant warfarin. This chemical substance, placed in food pellets, is absorbed by the intestinal tract and inhibits the clotting of blood. After a population decline for about 10 years, rat populations increased and stabilized. In one European population, as illustrated in the graph below, the percentage of rats resistant to warfarin has remained fairly stable over a number of years.

Resistance to warfarin is governed by a dominant autosomal gene, R. More than 15 percent of the resistant animals are heterozygous at this locus (Rr). The table below indicates the response to warfarin and relative reproductive fitness of individuals that are homozygous or heterozygous for the dominant gene (R). The RR individuals have a 20-fold increase in vitamin K requirement over individuals.

Fitness is a measure of the reproductive success of a particular genotype. The highest fitness is 1.00.

In a population where warfarin is no longer applied, the expectation is that the

#Question id: 635

#Unit 1. Molecules and their Interaction Relevant to Biology

The enymatic rate constant (kcat/Km) of orotidine 5ʹ-phosphate decarboxylase is 6 x 10⁷ M^-1s^-1 and the nonenzymatic rate constant (kn) is 3 x 10^-16 s^-1.  What is the value of the enzymeʹs catalytic proficiency?

#Question id: 634

#Unit 1. Molecules and their Interaction Relevant to Biology

An enzyme has a Vmax of 50 micromol product formed (minute x mg protein)-1 and a Km of 10 microM for the substrate. When a reaction mixture contains the enzyme and 5 microM substrate, which of the following percentages of the maximum velocity will be closest to the initial reaction rate?

#Question id: 633

#Unit 1. Molecules and their Interaction Relevant to Biology

An amino acid transporter protein is responsible for the transport of a specific amino acid across a membrane. The KI values of several competitive inhibitors of the amino acid transporter are shown above. Based on these data, which of the following is most likely the amino acid transported by this protein?

#Question id: 631

#Unit 1. Molecules and their Interaction Relevant to Biology

Two curves showing the rate versus substrate concentration are shown below for an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. One curve is for the reaction in the presence of substance X. The other curve is for data in the absence of substance X. Examine the curves and tell which statement below is false.

#Question id: 630

#Unit 1. Molecules and their Interaction Relevant to Biology

In case of competitive inhibition, plots of Km against [Io] fixed [Eo] have

#Question id: 629

#Unit 1. Molecules and their Interaction Relevant to Biology

In the presence of a fixed concentration of a competitive inhibitor, which of the following would best characterize an enzyme-catalyzed reaction when the concentration of the substrate is increased?