VCE Biology sample questions

Question 1

A cell is placed in a solution with a higher solute concentration than its cytoplasm. What will happen?

Accepted Answer

B. Water moves out of the cell and it shrinks

Question 2

Explain how an increase in temperature above the optimum reduces the rate of an enzyme-catalysed reaction.

Accepted Answer

Above the optimum, the increased kinetic energy breaks the bonds holding the enzyme's tertiary structure, so the enzyme denatures. The shape of the active site is altered, so the substrate can no longer bind to form an enzyme–substrate complex. Fewer complexes form, so the rate of reaction falls.

Question 3

A man with blood type AB and a woman with blood type O have a child.

a. State the possible blood types of the child.
b. Explain why the child cannot have blood type AB or type O.

Accepted Answer

a. The child can be type A (Iᴬi) or type B (Iᴮi).

b. The father is Iᴬ Iᴮ and can pass on only Iᴬ or Iᴮ. The mother is ii and can pass on only i. Every child therefore receives one of Iᴬ or Iᴮ from the father and i from the mother. Type AB would require both Iᴬ and Iᴮ, and only one can come from the father; type O would require two i alleles, and the father has none.

Question 4

Distinguish between the roles of B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes in the adaptive immune response.

Accepted Answer

B lymphocytes are responsible for humoral immunity: when activated they differentiate into plasma cells that secrete antibodies specific to the antigen, which circulate in body fluids and mark pathogens outside cells. T lymphocytes are responsible for cell-mediated immunity: helper T cells activate other immune cells, while cytotoxic T cells destroy the body's own cells that have become infected. Both produce memory cells that allow a faster response on re-exposure.

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