(Continued from Vidya Page 25-02-2010)

I year IPE – Cell Biology

Short Answer Questions

1. Bring out the differences between mitosis and meiosis.
Ans:
Mitosis Meiosis
1. It takes place in somatic cells It occurs in reproductive structures.
2. Nucleus divides once Twice
3. Daughter cells are genetically similar Genetically not similar
4. 2 daughter cells or nuclei are formed per 4 daughter cells or nuclei are formed per
division division
5. Prophase is simple Prophase I has 5 substages
6. Synapsis, crossing over and disjunction Absent
are present
7. There is no change in ploidy of cells Ploidy of daughter cells is reduced to half
8. Only one spindle is formed per divisions 3 spindles are formed per division.

2. Write the differences between DNA and RNA.

Ans:
DNA RNA
1. Usually double stranded Single stranded
2. Has Deoxyribose Sugar Ribose sugar
3. Purines and Pyrimidines exist in 1:1 ratio Do not exist in 1:1 ratio
4. Thymine is present Uracil is present
5. Mainly present in Nucleus and Cytoplasm. Mainly in the ribosomes
associated with chromosomes
6. Shows autocatalysis Except in RNA viruses, it does not show
autocatalysis.
7. Has high molecular weight Low molecular weight
8. Hydrogen bonds are formed between It is uncommon but formed between the
Adenine and Thymine and Guanine and nitrogen bases Adenine and Uracil and
Cytosine Guanine and Cytosine.

Very short Answer Questions

1. Who discovered living cells? Name the first discovered living organism
Ans: Leeuwenhoek, Bacteria
2. What is meant by apposition and intussusception?
Ans: Apposition is increase in thickness of the cell wall due to deposition of cellulose fibrils one
upon the other to form the frame work.
 Intussusception is increase in the area of the cell wall due to deposition of non-cellulose cell wall
materials between cellulose fibrils.
3. What is meant by unit membrane and what is its approximate thickness?
Ans: Any biological membrane with bimolecular lipid zone surrounded by monomolecular protein
zones is called as unit membrane by Robertson. Its thickness is 75A0.
4. What is the role of golgi complex in cell division?
Ans: During cell division the vesicles of Golgi are involved in the formation of cell plate at the
equatorial region which eventually forms the middle lamellum. In this way Golgi plays a role in
cytokinesis.
5. Name the cell organelle associated with photorespiration? Who discovered it?
Ans: Peroxisome, Rhodin
6. Explain the terms Karyotype and Idiogram.
Ans: Characteristic chromosome complement of a given species which depicts the number,
morphology of chromosomes is called as karyotype. Its Diagramatic representation is called as
Idiogram.
7. What are nucleosomes? What are they made of?
Ans: These are units of chromatin. They consists of 8 Histone proteins belonging to 4 types
known as H2A, H2B, H3, H4 and two coils of DNA.
8. Differentiate nucleotide and nucleoside.
Ans: A nucleotide is unit of nucleic acid consisting of a nitrogen base, phosphate and a pentose
sugar. A nucleoside is nucleotide without phosphate.
9. In a cell haploid chromosome number is 15. What number is found in Pollen grain, Zygote,
Primary endosperm nucleus and Colchicine treated zygote.
Ans: 15 in pollen grain, 30 in zygote, 45 in Primary Endosperm nucleus and 60 in colchicine
treated zygote.
10. What is the significance of S-phase of cell cycle?
Ans: During S phase there is doubling of DNA due to semiconservative replication of DNA. The
two chromatids of chromosomes are formed at the end of this stage.

Short Answer Questions

1. Write about the events of Pachytene and mention the significance of this phase.
Ans: Events of Pachytene:
1. The two chromatids of chromosome are clearly seen. Each bivalent has 4 chromatids and
known as Pachytene tetrad. Chromatids of the same chromosome are called as Sister chromatids
and that of different chromosomes as non-sister chromatids.
2. The arms of non sister chromatids are broken transversely by the action of Endonuclease and
the broken pieces are reciprocally united by Ligase. In this way the genetic material exchanged
and the phenomenon is called as Crossing Over.
3. The cross shaped structures seen at the place of crossing over are called as Chiasmata.
Significance: Crossing over leads to recombination of genetic characters. This is responsible for
the origin of new species which is one of the causes of evolution.
2. Describe the molecular model of DNA in brief as given by Watson and Crick.
Ans: 1. DNA is double helical structure resembles a twisted ladder.
 2. Each strand shows 5'→ 3' polarity and one strand is antiparallel to the other. Every strand has
deoxyribonucleotides.
3. Each nucleotide has a Deoxyribose sugar, Phosphate and a nitrogen base. Backbone of the
strand is made of alternately arranged Sugar and phosphate with diester bonds between them.
4. The nitrogen bases are Thymine (T) and Cytosine (C) as Pyrimidines and Adenine (A) and
Guanine (G) as purines.
5. Thymine of one strand pairs with Adenine of another strand by forming 2 hydrogen bonds
between them. Similarly G pairs with C and forms 3 hydrogen bonds.
6. Length is variable but the diameter is 20Ao. Length of each spiral is 34Ao and consists of 10
base pairs. The angle between the successive nucleotides of the same strand is 36o.
3. Give an account on suicidal bags of the cell.
Ans: These are Lysosomes. They have single unit membrane and formed from E.R. and Golgi
complex. These were discovered by de Duve. They are rich in hydrolytic enzymes and play a role
in digestion.
Freshly formed lysosomes are called as Primary lysosomes. Lysosomes associated with food
vacuoles are contents of the same cell as secondary lysosomes and lysosomes with undigested
left over particles as residual bodies or telolysosomes.
Since lysosomes can destroy the contents of the same cell they are called as Suicidal bags of the
cell.
4. Describe Plasma membrane with reference to Fluid Mosaic model.
Ans: Fluid Mosaic model was proposed by Singer and Nicholson. This model states that plasma
membrane is semi-solid. It has bimolecular fluid like lipid zone in which the solid like proteins are
embedded in mosaic manner. The proteins may be either superficially present over the lipid
bilayer (Peripheral proteins) or embedded either completely or partially (Intrinsic proteins). This
model best explains the functions of plasma membrane. Hence it is most acceptable model.