A. Plasma Membrane Structure –

1.     How is the RBC membrane organized?  With answers and comments

2.      What are the general structural features of other plasma membranes?

3.      How are membrane protein structures inferred from hydropathy plots?

4.      What do membrane labeling data say about membrane symmetry?

5.      What do the Gorter and Grendel data indicate about membrane lipid organization?

6.      What do quantitative packing data indicate about membrane lipid organization?

7.      What is the effect of ambient cooling on the membrane lipid composition of a ciliate?

8.      Just how mobile are integral membrane proteins and phospholipid in the erythrocyte plasma membrane?     (A complex problems in 6 parts, each containing video data and related questions..)

 

B. Plasma Membrane Function –

1.      How are solutes transported across the membrane of Nitella, a giant alga?  With answers and comments.

2.      How do duck erythrocytes regain their normal volume following osmotic swelling?

3.      What mechanisms might explain the apparently anomalous ion gradients across human, dog and cat erythrocyte membranes?

4.      How does the Ca2+ pump work?

5.      What’s the basis for membrane resting potentials in organisms Through the Looking Glass?

6.      What mechanism(s) is/are responsible for RBC chloride and bicarbonate transport?

7.      What’s the membrane basis for hereditary spherocytosis in humans?

 

C. Nuclear Function, Gene Replication and Transcription -   [In Preparation]

1. How are nucleoproteins transported into the nucleus?  

 

D. Protein Synthesis and Targetting; Vesicular Sorting –

1.      How is insect hemaglobin synthesized?  With answers and  comments

2.      How are membrane proteins synthesized, modified and targetted?

3.      What do hydropathy data suggest about protein synthesis, modification and sorting?

4.      How is insulin likely synthesized?  With partial answers and comments

5.      How is the plasma membrane replaced – Abstracts of two experiments?

6.      How is the plasma  membrane replaced – data from three experiments?

7.      How does ingested Chlorella escape digestion?

 

E. Cytoskeleton and Cell Motility –

1.      How do amoebae move?  With answers and comments.

2.      What’s the mechanism of kinesin’s movement along microtubules?

3.      What’s the role of the central core in flagellar movement? 

4.      How do proteins move from the ER to the Golgi complex? 

5.      What is the mechanism responsible for rapid vesicular movement in axons? 

6.      How do nuclei move in root hairs of Arabidopsis? 

 

F. Cell Signaling –

1.      How do Action Potentials work in organisms Through the Looking Glass?

2.      How does tetanus toxin inhibit neurological signaling?

3.      How do Gorgonian corals protect themselves from predation?

4.      How does a Venus Fly Trap close so quickly?

5.      What’s the physiological and structural bases of  Nitella action potential?

6.      How do plant and animal K+ channels likely differ structurally, based on their different transport properties?

7.      How do mitogens cause erroneous growth signals?

8.      What are the fast and slow blocks to polyspermy in a sea urchin egg , and how is the release of the egg's cortical granules regulated? 

9.   How do Na+ and K+ channels compare, and why might K+ channels have evolved into a more varied family of proteins?

 

G. Bioenergetics –

1.      How might insect flight muscle mitochondria make more ATP than liver mitochondria?

2.      How does Ca2+ stimulate respiration in isolated mitochondria?