Answers Discussion Problems For Virology 4770 Exam 1:
1. You work in a virology laboratory of a large company and your boss comes to you with a problem. She tells you to calculate the total number of bases in the genome of a dsDNA virus that the protein research branch has worked on. She also tells you that each amino acid has a m.w. of 100 and that 8 different amino acids comprise the proteins. The protein group found that there is one group of proteins from the virus that has a molecular weight of 1200, another with 800, another with 2300, and finally, one with 5000. What are the total number of bases in the genome of the virus?
ANSWER: First you must total all of the molecular weights and get a number of 9300. This number is then divided by 100 (from the given m.w. of each amino acid) to get a number of 93. This number then needs to be multiplied by THREE because that, in order to code for one amino acid you must use three bases. Taking that answer and multiplying by a factor of two to account for the ds DNA will give you the answer of 558 bases.
2. Your child comes home from school one day with small, multiple discrete nodules on the skin of their neck. You look closely at them and see that they are pearly white and at the top of each lesion there is an opening which allows you to see a small white core. They are painless and you squeeze one and some cheesy material comes out. With these facts, what is the infection your child has and is it dangerous for your child to have?
ANSWER: Your child would have molluscum contagiousum and no, it is not dangerous for your child to have.
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