Biology Questions for 1998 Freshmen |
1. The X and Y chromosomes in humans determine sex. Females are XX, males are XY. Red-green color blindness is caused by a recessive mutation in a gene on the X chromosome. A human female who is red-green color blind has several children sired by the same man who has normal vision. Which statement below is true regarding these children? (0.6% had no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. All these children will be color blind. | 6.0% |
| B. All the female children will be color-blind but all the male children will have normal vision. | 9.6% |
| C. All the female children will be carriers and all the male children will be color blind.<-- | 49.1% |
| D. All the female children will have normal vision and will not be carriers, but all the male children will be color-blind. | 4.3% |
| E. Half of the female children will be carriers and the other half will be fully normal; half of the male children will be color-blind and the other half will have normal vision. | 30.9% |
2. A new restriction enzyme has been discovered which recognizes a unique sequence of 10 nucleotides in DNA. If this enzyme is used to cleave DNA, on average how many base pairs long will the DNA fragments be? (6.9% had no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. 104 = 10,000 base pairs | 26.7% |
| B. 410 = 1,048,576 base pairs<-- | 35.1% |
| C. 10 x 4 = 40 base pairs | 31.9% |
| D. 10 + 4 = 14 base pairs | 4.4% |
| E. 10 - 4 = 6 base pairs | 2.0% |
3. A couple has three children, all of whom have brown eyes and blond hair. Both parents are homozygous for brown eyes (BB), but one is a blond (rr) and the other is a redhead (Rr). These eye color and hair color genes are unlinked. What is the probability that their next child will be a brown-eyed redhead? (1.9% had no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. 1/16 | 3.6% |
| B. 1/8 | 9.2% |
| C. 1/4 | 21.0% |
| D. 1/2 <-- | 63.6% |
| E. 1 | 2.5% |
The question 4 and 5 refer to the diploid cell shown below which has 3 pairs of chromosomes. The chromosome condition shown is that found during G1 of interphase.
Use the key immediately below to determine the correct answer to the next two questions.
4. What would be the chromosomal condition of a daughter cell resulting from mitosis? (2.1% had no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A | 16.8% |
| B | 25.1% |
| C | 18.4% |
| D<-- | 31.8% |
| E | 7.9% |
5. What would be the chromosomal condition of a gamete at the end of meiosis? (2.5% no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A | 14.8% |
| B | 15.2% |
| C<-- | 40.7% |
| D | 13.8% |
| E | 15.4% |
6. In prokaryotic organisms, the rate of protein synthesis is limited by the rate of mRNA synthesis. mRNA synthesis occurs at the rate of about 50 nucleotides/second. Therefore protein synthesis should occur at about: (3.0% no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. 10 amino acids/second | 13.2% |
| B. 17 amino acids/second <-- | 22.8% |
| C. 25 amino acids/second | 29.8% |
| D. 50 amino acids/second | 33.4% |
| E. | 0.7% (even though there was no such choice!) |
7. Humans have over 200 highly differentiated cell types. Any one of these cell types may express only a few percent of the genetic information which was inherited by the embryo at the time of fertilization. Which one of the mechanisms listed below appears to explain the majority of differential gene expression in higher organisms? (3.2% no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. Selective loss of genetic material in differentiated cells. | 10.5% |
| B. Selective amplification of genes in differentiated cells. | 17.5% |
| C. Genomic rearrangements of genes in differentiated cells. | 17.5% |
| D. Selective expression of genes in differentiated cells. <-- | 54.0% |
| E. | 0.4% (even though there was no such choice!) |
8. Below is a diagram of the "Central Dogma" of molecular biology which shows how biological information flows in living organisms. Each step of information flow is indicated by a letter. Which information flow step is the first step in the life cycle of the retrovirus HIV, the putative cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)? (3.8% no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A | 20.5% |
| B | 21.0% |
| C<-- | 42.0% |
| D | 16.3% |
| E | 0.2% (even though there was no such choice!) |
On the right is a list of cellular locations and organelles. On the left is a list of cellular processes. For items 9 through 13 on the left, choose the item on the right where the process occurs.
| 9. DNA
replication (1.1% no answer) A=6.1%, B=4.2%, C=82.7%<--, D=3.0%, E=3.7% |
A. Mitochondrion |
| 10.
Protein synthesis (1.6% no answer) A=14.3%, B=26.0%<--, C=6.6%, D=32.0%, E=21.1% |
B. Cytoplasm |
| 11.
Energy (or ATP) production (1.6% no answer) A=67.5%<--, B=9.2%, C=6.4%, D=8.3%, E=8.6% |
C. Nucleus |
| 12.
Breakdown of cellular components (1.4% no answer) A=7.1%, B=23.9%, C=3.2%, D=18.0%, E=47.8%<-- |
D. Endoplasmic reticulum |
| 13.
Transport out of the cell (1.3% no answer) A=5.3%, B=37.6%, C=2.8%, D=38.9%<--, E=15.4% |
E. Lysosome |
Below are the chemical structures of four amino acids. Refer to these structures to answer the next three questions.
14. In what component of eukaryotic cells would you find the above molecules? (4.5% no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. Deoxyribonucleic acid | 9.5% |
| B. Triacylglycerols | 17.9% |
| C. Proteins<-- | 44.0% |
| D. Ribonucleic acids | 14.3% |
| E. Glycogen | 14.3% |
15. Which of the above amino acids is likely to dissolve in olive oil? (5.0% no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. Lysine | 27.8% |
| B. Glycine | 30.2% |
| C. Isoleucine<-- | 17.5% |
| D. Glutamic acid | 23.5% |
| E | 1.0% even though it was not a choice. |
16. Which pair of amino acids is likely to form a stable ionic interaction? (4.6% no answer)
Answers |
% response |
| A. Lysine and glycine | 12.5% |
| B. Lysine and isoluecine | 13.0% |
| C. Lysine and glutamic acid<-- | 52.7% |
| D. Glutamic acid and glycine | 12.8% |
| E. Glutamic acid and isoleucine | 9.1% |
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