The calcitonin gene can encode either the hormone calcitonin or a protein called calcitonin-gene-related peptide depending on which 3′ cleavage site is used. In the thyroid gland, cleavage and polyadenylation occur after the fourth exon leading to calcitonin production. However, in the brain, the exact same transcript is cleaved after the sixth exon yielding calcitonin-gene-related peptide. This is possible because of a process known as:

Bonus question: the image from the question above could NOT represent a prokaryotic transcript because prokaryotic transcripts lack 5′ UTR or 3′ UTR

Scientists have developed novel techniques that allow them to visualize the process of DNA replication in vitro. What conclusions can you draw about the DNA replication process shown below?

The partial sequence a prokaryotic operon regulatory region is shown below. What are the names and approximate locations of the consensus sequences that are crucial for binding of the transcription machinery? (select all that apply)

What can you directly conclude from these results?

Which of the following predictions are accurate about your findings?

Which of the following sequences best represents the beginning of the mRNA molecule that will be transcribed from this sequence?

The following four questions (A-D)  are based on the scenario below: A scientist has isolated a molecule of nucleic acid but is unsure whether it is DNA or RNA. She investigates the features present in the molecule to determine its identity. A. The scientist observes that the molecule contains both a promoter and a terminator. What type of molecule is she examining?

Use the information below to answer the following 3 questions: You are a researcher studying the effects of a treatment on expression of Gene X in mice. You expose a few mice to the treatment while keeping others as a control. After a few days, you obtain the methylation status of CpG islands found at 4 different locations, near the transcription initiation site of Gene X.  The data from 3 different repetitions is shown below.

You are a research assistant in a lab that studies nucleic acids. Your advisor gave you four tubes for analysis. Each of these tubes differs in its contents by the source of its nucleic acids: single-stranded RNA, double-stranded DNA, double-stranded RNA and single-stranded DNA.  The approximate nucleotide base composition of each sample is given in the table below: Which one is/are more likely to be destroyed by DNases?          Which one is/are more likely to represent the single-stranded RNA sample?