immediate early genes - 2024 ACF Nationals

Question

Transcription of these genes relies only on existing transcription factors and proceeds in the presence of synthesis inhibitors. For 10 points each:

[10h] Name these genes that mediate short-scale cell signaling. The N antiterminator is an example of these genes in the lambda phage, while c-Fos (“C-foss”) is a human one used as a marker of neuronal activation.

ANSWER: immediate early genes [or IE genes]

[10m] c-Fos can dimerize with c-Jun (“C-joon”) by forming this structural motif. Transcription factors that incorporate this motif, such as AP-1 and CREB (“creb”), contain a heptad (“HEP-tad”) repeat with two hydrophobic residues.

ANSWER: leucine zipper [accept basic leucine zipper domain; prompt on coiled coils]

[10e] The Fos-Jun leucine (“LEW-seen”) zipper is a canonical example of how this secondary structural motif can form a coiled coil. Each residue in these structures rotates about 100 degrees relative to the last.

ANSWER: alpha helix [or alpha helices; prompt on helix or helices]

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Data

Team	Opponent	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Total
Berkeley A	North Carolina B	0	0	10	10
Brown	McGill	0	10	10	20
Chicago A	South Carolina	0	0	10	10
Columbia A	Claremont Colleges	0	0	10	10
Columbia B	Michigan	0	0	0	0
Cornell A	Toronto B	0	0	0	0
Duke	Minnesota B	0	0	10	10
Illinois	Ottawa	0	10	10	20
Indiana	Florida	0	0	0	0
Johns Hopkins	NYU	0	10	10	20
Maryland	Penn	0	0	0	0
Minnesota A	Chicago C	0	0	10	10
North Carolina A	Virginia	0	0	10	10
Northwestern	Stanford	10	10	10	30
Purdue	Truman State	0	0	10	10
Rutgers	Harvard	0	0	10	10
Texas	Cornell B	0	0	10	10
Toronto A	Kentucky	0	0	10	10
Yale A	WUSTL B	0	0	10	10
Yale B	Vanderbilt	0	0	10	10

Summary

Tournament	Edition	Exact Match?	Heard	PPB	Easy %	Medium %	Hard %
2024 ACF Nationals	04/21/2024	Y	20	10.50	80%	20%	5%