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2012 AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

EXAMINATION
BIOLOGY – SECTION C
TO BE COMPLETED BY THE STUDENT USE CAPITAL LETTERS

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Exam - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
 BIOLOGY

2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination

Time Allowed:

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Examination Time: 120 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS

§ Attempt all questions in ALL sections of this paper.

§ Permitted materials: Non-programmable, non-graphical calculator, pens, pencils,
erasers and a ruler.
§ Answer SECTIONS A and B on the MULTIPLE CHOICE ANSWER SHEET
PROVIDED. Use a pencil.
§ Answer SECTION (C) in the answer booklet provided. Write in pen and use pencil
only for graphs.
§ Ensure that your diagrams are clear and labelled.
§ All numerical answers must have correct units.
§ Marks will not be deducted for incorrect answers.

MARKS

SECTION A 36 multiple choice questions 36 marks

SECTION B 12 short answer questions 15 marks
SECTION C 8 written answer questions 64 marks

Total marks for the paper 115 marks

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
 SECTION C: WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN THIS BOOKLET

1. The table below refers to biological chemicals. Mark a tick in the box if the statement about
the chemical is correct. The first one is completed for you. (5 marks)

Biological chemical
RNA Starch Protein Lipid

Used for growth and repair

√

Contains nitrogen

Contains carbon, oxygen and

hydrogen

Made from amino acids

Reacts with iodine to form a

blue black complex

Insoluble in water

Contains uracil

2. Absorbance spectroscopy is a technique that uses the linear relationship between the
concentration of a substance in solution and its absorbance of a specific wavelength of light to
estimate concentration.

This is done by first determining the absorbance of known concentrations of the substance and
making a standard curve (a graph which shows the relationship of absorbance and
concentration). The concentration of unknowns of the same substance can then be determined
by finding where their absorbance values fall on the standard curve.

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
 The absorbance of known concentrations of substance x at 280nm are shown below.

Concentration (mg/ml) Absorbance at 280 nm

(arbitrary units)

0 0
0.11 0.07
0.17 0.12
0.24 0.14
0.31 0.17
0.34 0.23
0.41 0.25
0.5 0.33

a. Use these values to construct a standard curve of absorbance of substance x at 280nm on the
grid provided. Make sure to label your axes appropriately. (5 marks)

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
b. Use your standard curve to estimate the concentration of a solution of substance x that has an
absorbance of 0.25 (answer to 1 decimal place). (2 marks)
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c. Both the solutions used to generate the standard curve and the solution of unknown
concentration of substance x were dissolved in the same buffer. Another solution of substance x
was dissolved in a different buffer. However this standard curve could not be used to estimate its
concentration. Why not? (2 marks)
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d. The wavelength chosen for the standard curve and the solution of absorbance of a particular
substance is generally the wavelength of light it absorbs best (i.e. the wavelength of maximal
absorbance). Why would it be preferable to perform absorbance readings at a wavelength that is
absorbed well by a substance versus one that it absorbs minimally? (2 marks)
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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
3. In corn, a ‘starchy’ seed phenotype is described as being dominant to the ‘sugary’ seed
phenotype. The starchy variety is grown in Australia to provide corn flour meal whilst the
sugary variety is marketed as the vegetable sweet corn.

A Queensland farmer crossed a pure-breeding ‘starchy’ plant with a pure-breeding ‘sugary’

plant (pure-breeds are individuals that will give rise to progeny all of the same phenotype
when crossed with other pure-breeds of the same phenotype).

a. What would be the phenotype of the F1 seeds? (1 mark)

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b. The F1 seeds were allowed to mature, self fertilise and set seed. What is the expected
ratio of starchy to sugary seeds in the cobs borne on the F1 plants? (2 marks)

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From the website of Craig Swanson at http://content.perspicuity.com/?q=node/31

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
4. The following pedigree refers to the ability to taste phenylthiourea, a bitter chemical, in three
generations. Individual I2, a male, can taste phenylthiourea but individual I1, a female,
cannot.

I
1 2 3 4

II
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

III
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

a. Is the ability to tasted phenylthiourea a dominant or recessive trait? (1 mark)

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b. What is / are all the possible genotype/s for the individual II7. (Use the symbols T for the
dominant allele and t for the recessive allele? (1 mark)

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c. What is the genotype of II12? (1 mark)

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d. How many male non-tasters are there in the third generation? (1 mark)

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
5. The diagram below shows one artist’s representation part of a nucleic acid. (4 marks)

From http://dnanotes.nowlix.com/2011/01/download-dna-nucleotide-structures-and.html

a. Where in a prokaryote where would you see this molecule? (1 mark)

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b. The diagram is labelled with A, C, G, P, S and T. What is represented by the lines drawn
between C, G, A and T? (1 mark)
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c. Analysis of this molecule shows that 23% of its nitrogenous bases are A. What
percentage of G would you expect to find? (2 marks)
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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
6. Budgerigars are the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus (means melodious
parrot) and are related to loris and lorikeets. In the wild they are a generally light green in colour
with yellow heads. In 1879, a Belgian fancier reported a new mutation, Ino, in budgerigars and
since then various mutations have been described. Some of these mutations give rise to different
phenotypes, many of which are desirable to breeders (or fanciers) of captive birds.

One gene locus controls the general colour of the feathers (G) and another gene controls the
intensity (I) of the colour, with the allele I giving the most intense colour. The intensity of the
heterozygous individuals (Ii) show a colour intensity intermediate between the homozygotes
(either II or ii). Six possible phenotypes are shown in the table below.

Intensity of colour

General colour Pale Mid Dark

Green Light green Dark green Olive
Blue Sky blue Cobalt Mauve

Work out the possible phenotypes and genotypes of the F1 for the following three crosses (a - c).
Show your working and use the symbols given in this question to represent the alleles. Calculate
the expected ratios from the crosses for all the phenotypes.

a. Sky blue X mauve (2 marks)

b. Homozygous olive X heterozygous olive (2 marks)
c. Heterozygous dark green X cobalt (4 marks)

7. A plasmid is a ring of double stranded DNA found mostly in prokaryotes and occasionally in
some eukaryotes. Plasmids are inherited independently from the genomic DNA, are associated
with antibiotic resistance, horizontal gene transfer and nitrogen fixation: quite a variety of
functions occurring naturally in bacterial plasmids!

Restriction enzymes (such as EcorR1, BamH1) can be used to ‘cut’ plasmids at specific sites.
These can then be inserted into other organisms carrying genes (in genetic engineering) to produce
a variety of compounds such as antibiotics, insulin and toxins.

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
When a restriction enzyme cuts a plasmid once, the plasmid forms one length of DNA. If the
enzyme cuts at 2 sites, then 2 pieces of DNA are formed. Different lengths of DNA can be
separated by gel electrophoresis and we can determine the size (numbers of base pairs) of the
plasmid. Using 2 or more different restriction enzymes, the size of a plasmid can be determined
and the sites where restriction enzyme cuts the DNA allow the plasmid to be ‘mapped’.

The digested DNA is loaded into wells at 0 mm and the gel is set to ‘run’ to separate the different
lengths of DNA for about 90 minutes. In the example below, the restriction enzyme EcoR1 cuts
the plasmid to give one length of DNA of 40 base pairs. With the restriction enzyme BamH1, the
same plasmid is cut into three pieces.

The student started recording the data from the gel at the end of the practical.

Numbers of base pairs per band

EcoR1 40
BamH1 24
EcoR1 and BamH1 12

a. Complete the table above to show the experimental data from the gel. (2.5 marks)

b. How many base pairs was this plasmid? (0.5 marks)

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
c. Draw on the circle below a possible ‘map’ of the plasmid showing where the relative
positions of the sites for the restriction enzymes are found. (6 marks)

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
8. A diagram of Paramecium, a unicellular aquatic organism, is shown below:

a. Is the Paramecium prokaryotic or eukaryotic? (1 mark)

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b. Name the structures labelled A in the diagram. What is their purpose? (2 marks)

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c. The Paramecium regulates its water content using an organelle called a contractile
vacuole. As water enters by osmosis, this organelle fills up and pumps water out into the
external environment. As the salinity of the environment increases, predict how the rate of
pumping would change. Explain why. (3 marks)
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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
 d. To investigate the reproductive rate of Paramecium at different population densities, a
culture was set up containing 10 individuals / mL and the concentration of organisms was
determined every 24 hours. Assume that the stock concentration of Paramecium was
100mL and contained 5200 individuals. What volume of water and what volume of stock
solution would be required to set up 40mL of the initial culture? (3 marks)

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The table below shows the concentration of Paramecium at each time point.

Number of hours after start of Concentration (number of

experiment individuals / mL)
0 10
24 12
48 15
72 28
96 B
120 41

e. After 96 hours, there were 8 individuals in 200 µL of the culture. What was the
concentration of Paramecium at this time (shown in the table as B)? (1 mark)
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f. Plot the data on the axes provided on the following page, remembering to give an
appropriate title and label your axes. (4 marks)

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
g. Explain why the rate of growth is different between 0-24 hours and 48-72 hours. (2
marks)

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h. Describe and explain what is happening between 96 and 120 hours? Suggest a way to
prevent this from occurring. (3 marks)

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309
 Integrity of Competition

If there is evidence of collusion or other academic dishonesty, students will be

disqualified. Markers’ decisions are final

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2012 Australian Science Olympiad Examination - Biology
©Australian Science Innovations ABN 81731558309