PT122.S3.P4.Q23

PrepTest 122 - Section 3 - Passage 4 - Question 23

Hide analysis
P1

Every culture that has adopted the cultivation of maize—also known as corn—has been radically changed by it. ███

intro topic · Influence of maize
████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ████ █████ █████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███
explain significance · of maize
Contributed to development of agrarian and urban societies, and European population growth
███ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████████████████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███
hypothesis · Maize's influence is due to its productivity
███ ███ ███ █████ ███ █ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████ ███
phenomenon · Productivity of maize
██████ ████████████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ █████████████

Intro to hypothesis · Biochemistry provides the answer
P2

██ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████████ ███████ ███████████████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ███████████████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███

Context · Explanation of photosynthesis
Water splits into hydrogen and oxygen, hydrogen produces energy. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide builds sugars with help from enzyme (rubisco).
██████████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ █ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████████ █████████

Problem · Too much oxygen interferes with photosynthesis
Enzyme supposed to work with carbon dioxide, but oxygen binds to enzyme instead, meaning less enzyme available to work with carbon dioxide
P3

████ ███████ ████████ ████ ███████ █ ██████████████ █████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███████████████ █████ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██████████████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ███████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████████████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ███

Solution (hypothesis) · Different method of photosynthesis
Enzyme (rubisco) is kept separate from atmospheric gases (e.g., oxygen and carbon dioxide)
██████ ████████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ █████ ██ █ ████ █████ █████████ █ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ████████ █████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ █████ ███ █████ █████████ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ████████ ███
Complication with hypothesis · Carbon dioxide cannot reach enzyme as gas
Solution: Carbon dioxide becomes nongas molecule (C-4) in order to reach enzyme and drive photosynthesis
██████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██████

Strengthen hypothesis · Other highly productive crops use this method of photosynthesis
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Single position
Show answer
23.

Assuming that all other relevant ███████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███████████████ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████

a

Water is split ████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██████████████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████

Splitting water into its constituent elements releases oxygen, and the bundle sheath cells are the place where rubisco is located in C-4 plants. If we imagine that a non-C-4 plant had bundle sheath cells and split water inside those cells as (A) says, that would still allow oxygen to bind to rubisco and interfere with photosynthesis. So (A) doesn’t offer any advantage. In fact, (A) actually removes the advantage that C-4 plants have, because now the bundle sheath cells don’t protect rubisco from oxygen.

7%
b

An enzyme with █████ ██████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ████████

The advantage that C-4 plants have is their ability to keep oxygen from binding to rubisco. If a non-C-4 plant used some other enzyme that performs the same role as rubisco, but which oxygen is unable to bind to, then that plant would have the same advantage as a C-4 plant: oxygen can’t interfere with a key enzyme involved in photosynthesis.

69%
c

The vascular structures ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ████

For this to give non-C-4 plants a similar advantage to what C-4 plants have (namely, the ability to keep oxygen from binding with rubisco), we’d need to know that rubisco is located somewhere on the other other side of those impermeable vascular structures, such that oxygen can’t reach it. But the author doesn’t say where rubisco is located in non-C-4 plants, so it’s unclear whether (C) would keep oxygen and rubisco apart. That’s enough to eliminate (C). And even if rubisco were located on the other side of the vascular structures, we’d now have the problem that carbon dioxide gas can’t reach rubisco—but we need carbon dioxide to reach rubisco for photosynthesis to work at all. So either way, (C) presents only problems and no advantage.

14%
d

The specialized chlorophyll-containing ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████

The advantage that C-4 plants have is their ability to keep oxygen from binding to rubisco. If a non-C-4 plant split water around the vascular structures of the leaf, as (D) says, then we’d have oxygen released around those vascular structures. But where’s the rubisco in this scenario? (D) gives us no reason to think that oxygen won’t still bind to rubisco and interfere with photosynthesis, so there’s no advantage to be had here.

6%
e

An enzyme that ████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████

The role of rubisco is to react with carbon dioxide. (E) wouldn’t offer an advantage with photosynthesis; rather, it would interfere with photosynthesis.

5%

Confirm action

Are you sure?