Question

Why did mRNA from a diabetes insipidus patient with two mutant aquaporin-2 alleles produce nonfunctional aquaporin water channels when expressed in frog oocytes?

a. Oocytes do not have aquaporin water channels.

b. Foreign mRNA cannot be translated into functional protein in frog oocytes.

c. Since frogs are aquatic, they are isoosmotic to their environment and unresponsive to aquaporin water channels.

d. The water channels were nonfunctional because they were translated from mRNA transcribed from mutant aquaporin genes

Answer 1

Aquaporin 2 channels maintain the osmotic balance of the oocyte. If a mutant aquaporin is generated from 2 mutant alleles from a diabetic indipidus patient then the aquaporin becomes nonfunctional because both the alleles are mutated and hence the protein also gets mutated. Hence the mRNA translated from this mutant alleles could not generate a functional aquaporin channel and hence the aquaporin channels are non functional.

Hence the correct answer is: d. The water channels were nonfunctional because they were translated from mRNA transcribed from mutant aquaporin genes.

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