November 2018 Biology 1001A Term Test Part A: Individual Page 1 of 12

Circle the best single letter choice for each of the following questions before transferring
your answers to your Scantron sheet. Note, for “multiple-multiple” style questions, more than
one option may be correct (e.g. 1, 2 & 3 only). Part marks may be available for choosing some of the
correct answers but choosing any incorrect answer earns a grade of “0”.

1. 2018 marks the 90th anniversary of Alexander Fleming discovering the antibiotic (bacteriakilling
substance) penicillin. Interestingly, the more we use penicillin, the less effective it becomes in
treating bacterial infections. Why?
1. Repeatedly using penicillin causes individual humans to build up a tolerance to this
drug.
2. Treating bacterial infections with penicillin increases the risk that some individual
bacteria will mutate to become more resistant.
3. When a population of bacteria is exposed to penicillin, it develops the mutations it
needs to survive.
4. In the presence of penicillin, individual bacteria that are resistant to penicillin are
better able to survive and reproduce. Thus, resistant forms become more common in
subsequent generations of bacteria.

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

2. The statement “Positive thinking can cure depression, if you try hard enough” is not scientific. Why
not?
A. The statement is false.
B. The statement is falsifiable.
C. The statement is not falsifiable.
D. It is difficult to practice positive thinking when you are depressed, so the statement is not
useful.

3. Ceratophrys ornata, the Argentine wide-mouthed frog, is best known

for having the largest mouth (relative to its body size) of any animal.
Individuals with larger mouths are better able to capture food,
including mice, birds, and even other frogs.

Which of the following best explains the likely evolutionary history of

this unusual trait?

Among the ancestors of these frogs, random mutations generated

variation in mouth size. Individuals with larger than average mouths

were more likely to survive, and thus produced more offspring. Over
time, the population frequency of large-mouthed individuals increased.
A.

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B. The ancestors of these frogs stretched their mouths very wide in order to capture their prey.
Over time, the enlarged mouths were passed on to their offspring.
C. The ancestors of these frogs lived in an environment where most of the available food was large,
and only large-mouthed individuals were able to hunt successfully. In response to this selection
pressure, the population developed the mutations required to increase mouth size.

4. The diagram below shows the last replication bubble at the end of a baboon chromosome.

Which of the following roles is played by RNA in the replication of this end of a DNA chromosome?
1. Priming elongation of new DNA strand complementary to the lagging parent DNA.
2. Priming elongation of new DNA complementary to the leading parent DNA.
3. Providing template for elongation of the lagging parent strand. 4. Providing template for
elongation of the leading parent strand.

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

5. Which of the following mechanisms of DNA “repair” may actually create a mutation as a result
of the repair?
1. proofreading
2. excision repair
3. photolyase
4. non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

6. Imagine that a guanine undergoes a tautomeric shift from its common keto form to its rare enol
form at the time of incorporation into an elongating strand of DNA.

Which of the following statements about this mechanism is correct?

1. The enol form of guanine would base pair with thymine.

2. The enol form of guanine may be recognized as damage and removed by DNA repair
mechanisms.

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3. Such tautomeric shifting can give rise to SNP mutations.

4. The guanine will now remain in its enol form during subsequent rounds of replication.

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

7. “Purple Kush” is a high potency strain of medical marijuana (Cannabis sativa). Genome
sequencing has revealed 780 Mb (million base pairs) over 1 complete set of 10 chromosomes.
Assuming that sporophytes are diploid, how much DNA would there be in a Purple Kush cell
during metaphase of meiosis II?
A. 190 Mb
B. 390 Mb
C. 780 Mb
D. 1560 Mb

8. The patchy orange, black and white coat colour of calico cats at right
results from X-inactivation. Inactivated X chromosomes appear as darkly
staining regions (Barr bodies) within interphase nuclei.

Which of the following characteristics of X-inactivation is correct?

1. Female cells in G1 would have 1 Barr body while G2 cells would have
2.
2. Every female somatic cell randomly inactivates one X chromosome
or the other.
3. In calico cats, the active and inactive X chromosomes carry the same
alleles.
4. X-inactivation equalizes the dosage of X-linked genes in male vs.
female cells.

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

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9. Imagine a time in the future when whole genome sequencing is

accessible to our biology course. In the Skills Session on
Human Variation, three students compare their genome
sequence: Azuela and Samson are from east and west Africa,
respectively. Yeosu is from Korea. The graphic shows how
many SNPs are different when comparing the genomes of the
respective students.

Which of the following explanations most likely accounts for

these genomic data?
A. The ancestors of Azuela and Samson lost photolyase activity,
leading to more DNA damage, leading to more SNPs.
B. The last common ancestor of Azuela and Samson lived deeper in the past than the last
common ancestor of Azuela and Yeosu.
C. The ancestors of Yeosu migrated out of Africa long ago and, over time, have lost SNPs.
D. The ancestors of Yeosu were isolated from those of Azuela and Samson for thousands of
years.

Unlike the many other crop plants that are polyploid, the
sporophytes that you see growing in corn fields are diploid.

At right is a diagram summarizing the stages of cell cycling shown

as corn spores divide by mitosis, ultimately giving rise to
multicellular gametophytes (pollen grains).

Use this diagram for the following four questions.

10. During which stage in the cell cycle diagram would telomeres get shorter?

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

11. During which stage in the cell cycle diagram would the coefficient of C change?

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

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12. Which stage in the cell cycle diagram would end at a “checkpoint” mediated by cyclin/CDK
complexes?

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

13. During which stage in the cell cycle diagram would the coefficient of n be 1?

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

Use this information for the following five questions.

Beth loves bird examples, and for good reasons . . . .

Domesticated for about 10,000 years, the chicken, Gallus domesticus, is the most significant
agricultural animal in the modern world. A global population of about 30 billion birds is reared
annually for meat and/or egg production. Chickens were the first animal model species to
demonstrate Mendelian genetic principles and the first bird species to have its genome
sequenced.

The genetics underlying several chicken traits is well known:

i) Polydactyly: Having 5 toes instead of 4. Due to dominant allele (P) on Chromosome 1. ii)
Egg colour: Laying blue eggs instead of white. Dominant allele (O) on Chromosome 4.
iii) Leg length: Short legs instead of long. Allele (L) on Chromosome 7 is dominant to long leg (l)
but lethal when homozygous.
iv) Feather colour: Codominant alleles on Chr 2 result in: BB: black; Bb: blue; bb: white spots.
iv) Feather colour: Silver feathers rather than Gold. Due to dominant sex-linked allele (S).
Note that, in bird genetics, female birds have two different sex chromosomes (ZW) while males
have two similar sex chromosomes (ZZ). Yes, this is opposite of mammals and Drosophila.
“Sex-linked” traits in birds are carried on the Z chromosome; the W chromosome is small and
carries very few genes. Think slow. Make diagrams.

14. If you made a cross between two birds that were dihybrid for blue feathers and blue eggs,
what fraction of the female offspring would have black feathers and lay blue eggs?
A. All

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B. 3/16
C. 3/8
D. 3/4
E. None

15. If you made a cross between two chickens having short legs and 4 toes, what fraction of the
resulting chicks would have 4 toes and long legs?
A. 1/2
B. 1/3
C. 1/4
D. 2/3 E. 3/8

16. Imagine that you cross a silver female chicken with a gold male (homozygous for blue egg
alleles) and notice that all her eggs are white. What proportion of their offspring would be
gold females laying white eggs?
A. All
B. 1/4
C. 1/2
D. 3/4
E. None

17. If you cross two blue chickens, what is the likelihood that the first three eggs to hatch will be
spotted white?
A. 1/2
B. 1/4
C. 1/8
D. 1/16 E. 1/64

18. Imagine a chicken with the genotype Pp Oo Bb LL ZSW

How many different gamete genotypes could this bird make?
A ............................................................................................................................................ 1
B ............................................................................................................................................ 6
C ............................................................................................................................................ 6
D ............................................................................................................................................ 6

E. 16

19. The image below at left shows chicken chromosomes in a dividing cell. Below at right is a
karyotype created from those chromosomes. Although several chromosomes are very short
(called “minichromosomes”), they all have the usual chromosome structure. (Z and W are
the sex chromosomes.)

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How many double-stranded DNA molecules are represented in this karyotype?

A. 40
B. 39
C. 78
D. 156

20. The entire chicken genome sequence is 1.21 billion bases (Mb) over 39 chromosomes.
Although this is only about 1/3 the size of the human genome, chickens and humans both have
roughly the same number of genes (ie. about 25,000).

Which of the following sequences is likely less common in the chicken genome relative
to human?

A. Retrotransposons
B. Telomeres
C. Introns
D. Centromeres

21. “Goth Chickens” have black feathers, black meat, black skin and black bones (I’m not making
this up). This striking “hypermelanized” phenotype arises from a dominant allele resulting
from duplication of a gene on Chromosome 20.

Which of the following mechanisms is likely responsible for such a gene duplication?
1. tautomeric shifting
2. replication slippage
3. failure of proofreading
4. unequal crossing-over

A. 1, 2 & 3 only

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B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

22. The figure below shows a hypothetical pathway controlling pigmentation in jellyfish. The
active allele of Gene B codes for an enzyme that creates black pigment from a brown
substrate. The active allele of Gene C codes for an enzyme that degrades all pigment.
Inactive alleles code for non-functional enzymes with no effect on phenotype.

What will be the phenotypic distribution of offspring from a cross of BbCc x BbCc?

A. 12 Colourless: 3 Brown: 1 Black

B. 9 Colourless: 4 Brown: 3 Black
C. 12 Colourless: 3 Black: 1 Brown
D. 9 Colourless: 7 Black

23. The likelihood of recombination during meiosis is much higher in chicken tetrads than in
humans. In which of the following ways can normal meiotic recombination be considered
mutagenic?
A. Meiotic recombination involves double-strand breaks and can result in loss of bases.
B. Mobile elements can move during meiotic recombination, leading to insertion mutations.
C. Meiotic recombination changes the base sequence of participating chromatids.
D. Paired chromosomes can “slip” during recombination leading to indel mutations.

24. Anya and Ebbie’s first child, Sonora, was born with a rare chromosomal condition called
“uniparental disomy”. Although Anya’s blood Type is AB, and Ebbie is Type O, Sonora also
has Type AB blood. That is, although Sonora’s karyotype looks normal at first glance, she
has both of her mother’s Chromosome 9 - rather than one Chromosome 9 from each parent.
Ebbie could have produced a gamete lacking any Chromosome 9 as a result of failure of
chromosome partitioning at either Meiosis I or Meiosis II.
But what must have happened in Anya to give rise to the unusual chromosome
complement of baby Sonora?
A. Misdivision of replicated Chromosome 9 at Meiosis II.
B. Non-disjunction of homologous Chromosome 9 tetrad at Meiosis I.
C. Both non-disjunction AND misdivision of Chromosome 9 at Meiosis I and II.
D. Fusion of two gametes before fertilization.

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25. Recall from SimUText that the “S” allele of the MC1R gene in pigs causes black spots to appear
on an otherwise red skin colour.

Which of the following conclusions can you draw from study of this spotted allele?
1. The black allele is dominant to the red allele.
2. Different somatic cells can have different genotypes.
3. DNA replication can be mutagenic.
4. The more copies of the spotted allele an animal carries, the more spots it will have.

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only
D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

26. Which of the following hypothetical populations is almost certainly mating randomly at the K
locus? (In each case, population size is 100, and numbers refer to the observed frequency of
each genotype.)
1. 4 KK, 32 Kk, 64 kk
2. 25 KK, 50 Kk, 25 kk
3. 49 KK, 42 Kk, 9 kk
4. 45 KK, 10 Kk, 45 kk

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

27. In a hypothetical population of geckos on an imaginary island, skin colour is determined by

genotype at the G locus. Individuals with genotype GG have bright green skin, Gg
heterozygotes have pale green skin, and individuals with genotype gg have white skin.
Genotype frequencies on the island are 64% GG, 32% Gg, and 4% gg.
Which genotype is likely to have the highest relative fitness?

A. GG
B. Gg
C. gg
D. Fitness is probably equal for all three genotypes
E. Without more details about the island, types of predators, and detailed measurements of
reproductive success, it is impossible to predict which genotype has the highest relative
fitness.

28. Consider two alleles, L1 and L2, at the L locus controlling whisker length in a population of
mice. There are millions of mice in this population, so we can ignore the effects of genetic drift.
The starting frequencies of alleles L1 and L2 are 0.8 and 0.2, respectively.
Under which of the following scenarios will L1 eventually reach a frequency of 1 and L2
eventually disappear completely?

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1. wL1L1 > wL1L2 > wL2L2

2. wL1L1 > wL1L2 < wL2L2
3. wL1L1 > wL1L2 = wL2L2
4. wL1L1 < wL1L2 > wL2L2

A. 1, 2 & 3 only
B. 1 & 3 only
C. 2 & 4 only D. 4 only
E. All of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct.

29. As you remember from the Mendelian Pigs, coat colour and
pattern in pigs and many other mammals depends on genotype at
the MC1R locus. In a hypothetical population of pigs, two alleles
are present at MC1R: R and S.

RR pigs are red with no spots; RS pigs have some spots; SS

pigs have many spots.

All three genotypes have equal relative fitness, and the population
is large enough that we can ignore the effects of genetic drift.

You survey 100 pigs and find: 60 with no spots (genotype RR); 20 with some spots (genotype
RS); and 20 with many spots (genotype SS).

Which of the following explanations is most likely?

A. These pigs are mating randomly with respect to MC1R genotype.

B. These pigs are mating disassortatively with respect to MC1R genotype.
C. These pigs are mating assortatively with respect to MC1R genotype.

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Page

30. Fariba notices that her apple juice tastes fizzy due to fermentation by a population of yeast
cells. She takes 1 ml of the juice and adds 9 ml of water, mixing it well. She then spreads
100 µl of the diluted juice onto each of several agar plates to grow the yeast. The next day,
she finds an average of 164 colonies growing on each of her plates.

How dense is the population of yeast cells (CFU/ml) fermenting Fariba’s juice?
A. 1.64 x 103
B. 1.64 x 104
C. 1.64 x 105
D. 1.64 x 106 E. 1.64 x 107

31. In recent years, Lake Erie has experienced dramatic explosions in the population of
photosynthetic prokaryotic cyanobacteria.
Which of the following statements identifies a significant contributing factor in such algal
“blooms”?

A. Summer rainstorms wash nutrients into the lake.

B. Cyanobacteria are being dumped into Lake Erie in untreated sewage.
C. Recent summers have seen more sunny days than in the past.
D. Other microbes that prey on cyanobacteria have declined due to global warming.

32. In Skills Module 2, you used a microscope stage micrometer to calibrate an ocular scale as
shown below using the 10X objective lens.

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What is the length of the Paramecium cell shown below?

A. 4 µm
B. 40 µm
C. 400 µm
D. 4000 µm

This test is 80 minutes long. If you finish early, you need to wait for the Collaborative Bonus to
begin with rest of your team.

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