AQA A Level Biology Paper 2 June 2017 question paper 7402/2

Exercise causes an increase in heart rate.

Describe the role of receptors and of the nervous system in this process.

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an enzyme that regulates a number of cellular processes. Exercise leads to activation of AMPK.

Figure 1 shows one effect of activation of AMPK during exercise.

CPT1 is a channel protein that transports fatty acids into mitochondria.

Using Figure 1, explain the benefit of activation of AMPK during exercise.

Dengue is a serious disease that is caused by a virus. The virus is carried from one person to another by a mosquito, Aedes aegypti. One method used to try to reduce transmission of this disease is the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). This involves releasing large numbers of sterile (infertile) male A. aegypti into the habitat. These males have been made infertile by using radiation.

Explain how using the SIT could reduce transmission of dengue.

Describe how the mark-release-recapture method could be used to determine the population of A. aegypti at the start of the investigation.

The release of radiation-sterilised A. aegypti has not been very successful in controlling the transmission of dengue.

Suggest one reason why.

Recently a new method was developed to control A. aegypti. Scientists produced transgenic males carrying a ‘lethal gene’ which kills their offspring before they can reproduce.

The scientists released transgenic males every week in one area of a city in Brazil. At regular intervals they determined the number of A. aegypti per km² in the area where transgenic males were released and in a control area where no transgenic males were released.

Figure 2 shows their results.

Suggest why the scientists released more transgenic males every week.

The release of transgenic males proved successful in reducing the number of A. aegypti.

Describe how the results in Figure 2 support this conclusion.

Scientists investigated the effect of regular exercise on skeletal muscle fibres in mice. The scientists compared the muscle fibres of mice after six weeks of regular exercise (trained mice) with those of mice that had not exercised (control mice). The scientists stained the muscle fibres from both sets of mice to show succinic acid dehydrogenase activity. The darker the stain the greater the succinic acid dehydrogenase activity.

Figure 3 shows a typical set of results they obtained.

Succinic acid dehydrogenase is an enzyme used in the Krebs cycle.

Suggest one reason for the difference in the staining between the muscle fibres of the control mice and the trained mice.

The scientists then compared the length of time that the control mice and the trained mice could carry out prolonged exercise. The trained mice were able to exercise for a longer time period than control mice.

Explain why.

The scientists determined the mean diameter of muscle fibres in trained mice using an optical microscope to examine sections of muscle tissue. The circular area (πr of one field of view was 1.25 mm². The diameter of this area was equal to the diameter of 15 muscle fibres.

Using this information, calculate the mean diameter in µm (micrometres) of muscle fibres in this section of tissue.

The scientists also compared the diameter of samples of muscle fibres taken from young mice and adult mice.

Some of their results are shown in Figure 4.

Describe two differences between these samples of muscle fibres.

A student isolated chloroplasts from spinach leaves into a solution to form a chloroplast suspension. He used the chloroplast suspension and DCPIP solution to investigate the light-dependent reaction of photosynthesis. DCPIP solution is blue when oxidised and colourless when reduced.

The student set up three test tubes as follows:

Tube 1 – 1 cm³ of solution without chloroplasts and 9 cm³ of DCPIP solution in light.

Tube 2 – 1 cm³ of chloroplast suspension and 9 cm³ of DCPIP solution in darkness.

Tube 3 – 1 cm³ of chloroplast suspension and 9 cm³ of DCPIP solution in light.

The student recorded the colour of the DCPIP in each of the tubes at the start and after the tubes had been left at 20 °C for 30 minutes.

His results are shown in Table 1.

The solution that the student used to produce the chloroplast suspension had the same water potential as the chloroplasts.

Explain why it was important that these water potentials were the same.

Explain why the student set up Tube 1.

Explain the results in Tube 3.

The student evaluated the effectiveness of different chemicals as weed-killers by assessing their ability to prevent the decolourisation of DCPIP in chloroplast suspensions.

He added different concentrations of each chemical to illuminated chloroplast suspensions containing DCPIP. He then determined the IC₅₀ for each chemical. The IC₅₀ is the concentration of chemical which inhibits the decolourisation of DCPIP by 50%.

Explain the advantage of the student using the IC₅₀ in this investigation.

Explain how chemicals which inhibit the decolourisation of DCPIP could slow the growth of weeds.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) are fungi which grow on, and into, the roots of plants. AMF can increase the uptake of inorganic ions such as phosphate.

Suggest one way in which an increase in the uptake of phosphate could increase plant growth.

Suggest one way in which AMF may benefit from their association with plants.

Scientists investigated the effects of different AMF species on the productivity of the plant community of a prairie grassland ecosystem when growing in/on soil containing different phosphate concentrations.

The scientists set up identical plots of prairie grassland soil containing seeds of the plant species found in the ecosystem. The scientists added different AMF species and different concentrations of phosphate to particular plots. Control plots without AMF species were also set up. After 20 weeks the scientists determined the shoot biomass for each plot.

The results the scientists obtained are shown in Figure 5.

Explain why an increase in shoot biomass can be taken as a measurement of net primary productivity.

Using the data from Figure 5, evaluate the effect on plant productivity of adding AMF species and adding phosphate to the soil.

Using the e^x button on your calculator, determine the rate of shoot biomass production in grams per day for the control plot in soil with normal phosphate concentration.

Each year, a few people with type I diabetes are given a pancreas transplant. Pancreas transplants are not used to treat people with type II diabetes.

Give two reasons why pancreas transplants are not used for the treatment of type II diabetes.

The pancreas produces the hormone insulin.

Put a tick (✓) in the box next to the statement which describes incorrectly the action of insulin.

Scientists investigated the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) to treat type I diabetes in mice. The scientists used four transcription factors to reprogramme skin cells to form iPS cells. The scientists then stimulated the in vitro differentiation of iPS cells into pancreatic cells.

The scientists set up three experimental groups:

Group A – 30 mice with type I diabetes received pancreatic cell transplants derived from iPS cells.

Group B – 30 mice with type I diabetes were left untreated.

Group C – 30 mice without diabetes were left untreated.

The scientists measured the blood glucose concentration of all the mice on a weekly basis for 12 weeks.

The results the scientists obtained are shown in Figure 6.

Suggest how transcription factors can reprogramme cells to form iPS cells.

Using all the information provided, evaluate the use of iPS cells to treat type I diabetes in humans.

What is meant by the term phenotype?

The inheritance of fruit colour in summer squash plants is controlled by two genes, A and B. Each gene has two alleles.

Figure 7 shows the interaction of these two genes in controlling fruit colour in summer squash plants.

Name the type of gene interaction shown in Figure 7.

What fruit colour would you expect the following genotypes to have?

Genes A and B are not linked.

Complete the genetic diagram to show all the possible genotypes and the ratio of phenotypes expected in the offspring of this cross.

Genotypes of parents aabb × AaBb

Genotypes of offspring

Phenotypes of offspring

Ratio of phenotypes

A population of summer squash plants produced only green and yellow fruit. The percentage of plants producing yellow fruit in this population was 36%.

Use the Hardy−Weinberg equation to calculate the percentage of plants that were heterozygous for gene B.

One way to detect and measure accurately the amount of RNA in a tissue sample is by RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction).

RT-PCR uses a reaction mixture containing:

the sample for testing

reverse transcriptase

DNA nucleotides

primers

DNA polymerase

fluorescent dye.

The principle behind this method is shown in Figure 8.

Explain the role of reverse transcriptase in RT-PCR.

Explain the role of DNA polymerase in RT-PCR.

Any DNA in the sample is hydrolysed by enzymes before the sample is added to the reaction mixture.

Explain why.

Figure 9 shows the results from using RT-PCR to detect RNA in two different samples, A and B.

A quantitative comparison can be made of the amount of RNA in samples A and B This involves determining the number of cycles required to reach 50% maximum concentration of DNA (C). The amount of RNA in a sample can be measured as:

Use this information to calculate the ratio for RNA content in sample A: RNA content in sample B.

Suggest one reason why DNA replication stops in the polymerase chain reaction.

Scientists have used the RT-PCR method to detect the presence of different RNA viruses in patients suffering from respiratory diseases.

The scientists produced a variety of primers for this procedure.

Explain why.

What is a gene pool?

Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea possesses two species of palm tree which have arisen via sympatric speciation. The two species diverged from each other after the island was formed 6.5 million years ago. The flowering times of the two species are different.

Using this information, suggest how these two species of palm tree arose by sympatric speciation.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a non-reversible brain disorder that develops over a number of years. At the start of 2014 the number of Americans with AD was estimated to be 5.4 million. Every 30 seconds another person in America develops AD.

In the brain of a person with AD there is a lower concentration of acetylcholine. 5 This affects communication between nerve cells and initially results in memory loss and confusion. Some of the symptoms of AD that are associated with communication between nerve cells are reduced by taking the drug donepezil. Donepezil inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase.

A gene mutation called E280A found on chromosome 14 causes early-onset AD 10 at a mean age of 49 years. The age at which the E280A mutation is expressed to cause AD varies.

Yaramul is a town in a historically isolated region of the Andes Mountains. The population of this town has the highest frequency of the E280A mutation in the world. The origin of the E280A mutation in this population has been traced back 15 to a common ancestor in the 17th century. Natural selection has not reduced the frequency of the E280A mutation in the population.

This autosomal dominant mutation involves a change in triplet 280 from GAA to GCA. Scientists analysed chromosome 14 from 102 individuals from Yaramul. They recorded a sample size of 204 and detected 75 E280A mutations but only 20 74 potential AD cases. The scientists identified individuals with the mutation by whole genome sequencing. They had decided that a DNA probe would not be a suitable method to detect the E280A mutation.

Assuming no one with AD died in 2014, calculate the annual percentage increase in AD cases in America for 2014 (lines 2–4).

Explain how donepezil could improve communication between nerve cells (lines 7–9).

Suggest and explain two reasons why there is a high frequency of the E280A mutation in Yaramul (lines 13–15).

Explain why natural selection has not reduced the frequency of the E280A mutation in the population (lines 16–17).

The age at which the E280A mutation is expressed to cause AD can vary (lines 11 – 12).

Suggest and explain one reason for this.

One scientific study which analysed chromosome 14 involved 102 individuals. The scientists recorded a sample size of 204. In this sample they detected 75 E280A mutations but only 74 potential AD cases (lines 19 – 21).

Suggest explanations for the figures the scientists recorded.

Suggest why a DNA probe for the mutated triplet was not considered a suitable method for detection of the E280A mutation (lines 22–23).