1.Which of the statements below is the best definition of "a gene"?
All the genetic information in an organism
A heritable factor which makes a protein
A heritable factor made of a length of DNA which influences a specific characteristic.
The location on a chromosome of a specific length of DNA
2.Which biological term refers to the different forms of a gene which differ by just a few bases?
Alleles
Genotypes
Genes
Proteomes
3.In sickle cell disease there are two alleles for the protein haemoglobin. These are called HbS and
HbA .
What is thought to be the cause of the existance of the HbS allele?
An infection
DNA replication
Protein synthesis
A mutation
4. What was it that the Human Genome Project's international consortium achieved in 2003 when
they announced the successful completion of the Human Genome Project?
They had found the sequence of all amino acids in all human proteins
They had found the function of all human genes.
They had sequenced the DNA bases of all known genes
They had sequenced the entire base sequence of human genes
In the rat genome sequencing project of 2004, Dr Richard Gibbs and his researchers reported that the rat
genome is smaller than the human genome, and slightly larger than mouse genome.
However, they also found that the rat genome contains about the same number of genes as the human
and mouse genomes.
Species Human Rat Mouse
Genome size 2.9 billion base pairs 2.75 billion base pairs 2.6 billion base pairs
Estimated gene number 20000 to 30000 20000 to 30000 20000 to 30000
Chromosome number 46 42 40
Which of the following suggestions could be an explanation for such a large difference in the
genome size of these three species when the number of genes is thought to be so similar?
The genes in humans have a longer length.
Most of the differences in the genome size are found in non-coding regions of the DNA, where
there are no genes.
Humans have more chromosomes, and therefore more DNA base pairs
The differences are smaller than the precision of the method, so are not significant differences.
The diagram below shows the change which differentiates the HbA allele from the HbS allele in
sickle cell disease.
Which of the following answers best describes this type of mutation.
It is a base substution mutation
It is a frame shift mutation.
It is a base deletion mutation
It is an inversion of one part of a chromosome
