Old Bioc 460 exams written by Dr. Miesfeld. Most of these questions are already included in the Study Guide Problem Sets but you are welcome to look through these old exams if you think it will help you study for this year's exam. Remember that the material I teach each year changes somewhat (thank goodness), so take that into account when you read through these old exams.

Old Bioc 460 Exams (Ziegler)

• NOTES in studying for Exam 1:
  • In 2007 and in 2008, experimental methods (protein purification and characterization) are not covered in spring 460. Protein purification and characterization questions on 2006 Exam 1 that are no longer covered in the course were #3 and #10; you can ignore those.
  • In 2007, the order of covering some material was different from 2006, so myoglobin and hemoglobin were on EXAM 1 in 2007 (and will be in 2008); in 2006, the questions on ligand binding and allosteric regulation were on Exam 2, so look at 2006 version of Exam 2 for examples of myoglobin/hemoglobin questions.
  • What questions from the second exams from 2006 and 2007 might be relevant? It's not so simple to "pigeonhole" exam questions -- some Exam 2 questions are on material in second quarter of the course (enzyme regulation, for example) that's based on concepts from in the first quarter of the course (like hemoglobin allosteric regulation).
    • 2006 Exam 2: Question #2 was on enzyme regulation, but the concepts were first dealt with when we discussed Hb and Mb.
      #5 was mostly related to membrane proteins and transport (2nd part of course), but we talked about amphipathic helices in the first part of the course, and about the fact that membrane lipids provide a hydrophobic "solvent" interacting with the exterior of membrane proteins like porins.
      #6 is really something we cover more with enzyme mechanisms, but the concept of a particular functional group needing to be in its conjugate base (or conjugate acid) form for activity is something that has already showed up on practice problems in the course.
      #7 covers material we covered in lecture 10 and on the posted sample problems for introduction to enzymes, so it's totally relevant for Exam 1 this year.
      #11 (porin structure) is something we covered under protein tertiary structure, but will see again when we talk about membrane proteins.
      #13 is a hemoglobin question, but one that required making some connections, thinking about the structure of 2,3-BPG and where it binds and what its effect is and applying it to a new situation.
    • 2007 Exam 2: #3 and #8 were related to porin structure, which we discussed under tertiary structure but we'll see it again under membrane proteins.
      #4 is on enzyme regulation, but a topic that was "built" on what you've learned about hemoglobin and allosteric effects in general. The 2007 lecture schedule was very similar to 2008, so the exam material split out in a similar way.

Exam 1 (PDF), spring 2007
Exam 1 KEY (PDF), spring 2007

Exam 2 (PDF), spring 2007
Exam 2 KEY* (PDF), spring 2007 *see note below

Exam 2 (PDF), spring 2006
Exam 2 KEY (PDF), spring 2006

*NOTE regarding calculation of ΔG_transport for Cl^– on Exam 2, spring 2007:

We spent a lot of time in class on how to determine the sign on the electrical potential term (zFΔV) using "common sense" with a sketch of the situation (concentrations and charge gradient, and direction of transport, on a diagram of the cell), because there isn't a simple "formula" for determining the sign on that term.

If you put the sign on the ion and the sign on the ΔV, then how do you change the sign on that term in the equation to reflect the DIRECTION the ion is moving? What if the Cl^– ion were moving OUT of the cell instead of into it? You have to assign the sign to that term based on common sense. In this exam problem, with excess negative charge inside (or excess positive charge outside, however you want to think about it) the membrane electrical potential favors moving a negative charge OUT of the cell, so it's UNFAVORABLE for moving the Cl^– ion into cell, so that term in overall ΔG_t equation for Cl^– moving IN has a positive sign. But note that the sign on that term would be negative (favorable electrical potential term) if the Cl^– ion were being transported OUT of cell.