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Date November 2017 Marks available 1 Reference code 17N.3.HL.TZ0.10
Level Higher level Paper Paper 3 Time zone TZ0 / no time zone
Command term Outline Question number 10 Adapted from N/A

Question

The table shows a comparison of DNA base sequences in several yeast (Saccharomyces) genomes.

[Source: P. F. Cliften et al. (2001) ‘Surveying Saccharomyces Genomes to Identify Functional Elements by Comparative DNA Sequence Analysis’, Genome Research, 11, pp. 1175–1186. © Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Reproduced with permission.]

Identify the species that has the lowest percentage of coding sequences.

[1]
a.

State how similar nucleotide sequences can be identified.

[1]
b.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was the first eukaryotic organism to have its entire genome sequenced. Suggest reasons for the choice of yeast as a study organism.

[3]
c.

Outline possible medical applications of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

[1]
d.

Markscheme

S. unisporus

a.

BLASTn/sequence alignment software

“n” required in BLASTn

b.

a. easy to grow

    OR

    easy/cheap to produce large amounts

    OR

    fast generation time

b. genomes are small/easy to manipulate

c. metabolically diverse

d. industrial applications/biopharming

e. no ethical issues «with yeast»

[Max 3 Marks]

c.

a. identify different viral/influenza strains

b. genetic testing/testing for genetic disease mutations

c. tissue typing

d. vaccine development

[Max 1 Mark]

d.

Examiners report

[N/A]
a.
[N/A]
b.
[N/A]
c.
[N/A]
d.

Syllabus sections

Option B: Biotechnology and bioinformatics » Option B: Biotechnology and bioinformatics (Additional higher level topics) » B.4 Medicine
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Option B: Biotechnology and bioinformatics » Option B: Biotechnology and bioinformatics (Additional higher level topics)
Option B: Biotechnology and bioinformatics

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