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MCAT Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems 5
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Avg score: 71% Most missed: “The most significant contributors to the intrinsic fluorescence and curcumin-ind…”
Questions are based on the following passage: Ribonuclease L (RNase L) is a key antiviral endoribonuclease that is induced and activated by virus infection, interferons, or double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). A cofactor called 2-5A binds to monomeric RNase L to convert it to an active, dimeric enzyme. When active, dimeric RNase L degrades single-stranded RNA to eliminate virus and virus-infected cells. Curcumin, an orange-yellow pigment from the herb a.longa, has been found to have numerous therapeutic effects. The chemical structure is shown in Figure 1. Its effect on RNase L activity was studied.... Show more
MCAT Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems 5
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5 Questions

1. Based on the data collected in these experiments, what is the mode of RNase L inhibition by curcumin?
2. Curcumin, shown in Figure 1, has a characteristic UV-visible spectral peak around 419 nm. The structural feature of curcumin that is most responsible for this UV-visible signal is its
3. How can the Gibbs free energy of curcumin binding to RNase L be determined from the data obtained in these experiments?

4. Which Lineweaver-Burk plot most resembles the effect of curcumin (dashed line) on normal RNase L activity (solid line)?

5. The most significant contributors to the intrinsic fluorescence and curcumin-induced quenching, measured in Figure 3, are