Biological databases overview MCQs With Answer

Biological Databases Overview MCQs With Answer

This quiz set is designed for M.Pharm students to strengthen understanding of biological databases commonly used in pharmaceutical research and computational biology. It covers types of databases (sequence, structure, functional, chemical and clinical), key repositories like GenBank, UniProt, PDB, DrugBank and PubChem, database-specific identifiers and formats (FASTA, accession numbers), search and annotation tools (BLAST, Entrez, Gene Ontology), and concepts such as curated vs. automated annotation and cross-references. Each question focuses on practical knowledge necessary for literature review, data retrieval, drug discovery and interpretation of bioinformatics outputs encountered in advanced pharmacy coursework and research.

Q1. What type of database is GenBank primarily classified as?

• Protein structure database
• Nucleotide sequence database
• Small molecule database
• Gene expression database

Correct Answer: Nucleotide sequence database

Q2. Which resource is the most authoritative manually curated protein sequence database?

• UniProtKB/TrEMBL
• GenBank
• UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot
• PDB

Correct Answer: UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot

Q3. What does an accession number in a biological database represent?

• A metric for sequence quality
• A unique identifier for an entry
• A measure of evolutionary distance
• A predicted protein function

Correct Answer: A unique identifier for an entry

Q4. Which database is primarily used to store three-dimensional macromolecular structures?

• KEGG
• DrugBank
• Protein Data Bank (PDB)
• RefSeq

Correct Answer: Protein Data Bank (PDB)

Q5. Which file format is most commonly used to represent raw nucleotide or protein sequences with a single-line header?

• PDB format
• GenBank flatfile
• FASTA format
• SDF format

Correct Answer: FASTA format

Q6. Which of the following databases is specialized for small molecules and drug information useful in pharmacology?

• Pfam
• DrugBank
• InterPro
• MMDB

Correct Answer: DrugBank

Q7. What is the primary function of the BLAST algorithm in database searches?

• Predict protein 3D structure from sequence
• Align short reads to a reference genome
• Find local sequence similarity between a query and database entries
• Annotate gene ontology terms automatically

Correct Answer: Find local sequence similarity between a query and database entries

Q8. Which database provides curated reference sequences for genomes, transcripts and proteins maintained by NCBI?

• UniProtKB
• RefSeq
• EMBL
• TrEMBL

Correct Answer: RefSeq

Q9. In BLAST results, what does a low E-value indicate?

• High probability the match is due to random chance
• Poor alignment quality
• High significance of the match
• That the sequences are identical

Correct Answer: High significance of the match

Q10. Which database would you use to find curated enzyme information including kinetics and ligand data?

• BRENDA
• Pfam
• OMIM
• ArrayExpress

Correct Answer: BRENDA

Q11. Which resource integrates protein family, domain and functional site annotations from multiple databases?

• InterPro
• PubChem
• dbSNP
• GEO

Correct Answer: InterPro

Q12. What type of information is stored in the dbSNP database?

• Protein 3D structures
• Single nucleotide polymorphisms and small genetic variations
• Drug-target binding affinities
• Microarray raw expression data

Correct Answer: Single nucleotide polymorphisms and small genetic variations

Q13. Which chemical database provides compound structures, bioactivities and is commonly used for drug discovery (including ChEMBL-like data)?

• UniProt
• PubChem
• Pfam
• RefSeq

Correct Answer: PubChem

Q14. Swiss-Prot entries are distinguished by which characteristic compared to TrEMBL?

• Automatically annotated without review
• Contain only nucleotide sequences
• Manually reviewed and annotated
• Store raw experimental chromatograms

Correct Answer: Manually reviewed and annotated

Q15. Which database is most appropriate to search for differential gene expression datasets from microarray and RNA-Seq experiments?

• Protein Data Bank (PDB)
• GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus)
• Swiss-Prot
• Pfam

Correct Answer: GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus)

Q16. What does the Gene Ontology (GO) resource provide?

• Three-dimensional structures of metabolites
• A controlled vocabulary describing gene product attributes across species
• Raw sequencing reads from clinical samples
• Clinical trial outcomes for drugs

Correct Answer: A controlled vocabulary describing gene product attributes across species

Q17. Which identifier is commonly used to reference a protein entry in UniProt?

• GI number
• UniProtKB accession (e.g., P12345)
• PubChem CID
• PDB ID

Correct Answer: UniProtKB accession (e.g., P12345)

Q18. What distinguishes a primary database from a secondary (derived) database?

• Primary databases contain predicted annotations only
• Primary databases store original experimental sequence/structure data; secondary databases provide derived, curated or summarized information
• Secondary databases only store clinical trial metadata
• Primary databases are always commercial products

Correct Answer: Primary databases store original experimental sequence/structure data; secondary databases provide derived, curated or summarized information

Q19. Which resource would you consult to find known associations between genes and human phenotypes or diseases?

• OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man)
• KEGG Pathway Maps
• Pfam family pages
• SRA (Sequence Read Archive)

Correct Answer: OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man)

Q20. When submitting a new nucleotide sequence to public repositories, which of the following is a common required element?

• Protein crystallization conditions
• Raw mass spectrometry spectra
• Accession number from another database
• Source organism and sequence annotation metadata

Correct Answer: Source organism and sequence annotation metadata

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