1. Give any one reason why Mendel used a true breeding line of garden pea plants in his experiments.

1
2. What are the codons ‘AUG’ and ‘UAA’ referred to as? 1
3. Why are color blindness and thalassemia categorized as Mendelian disorders? 1
4. Why did Morgan and his group attribute the terms linkage and recombination with respect to position of genes on
a chromosome? 2
5. Name a genetic disorder where a human female is always a carrier yet rarely suffers from the disorder. Explain. 3
6. Give three reasons to justify why between the two nucleic acids, DNA is considered to be the better one. 3
7. What constitutes an operon? Explain the role of repressor in lac operon. 3
8. a. What would happen if oxygen was present among the other gases in miller’s experiment? 3
b. why was an electric discharge created in a closed flask?
c. Write the conclusion drawn by him at the end of his experiment.
9. a. Name the types of Ribo nucleic acids and mention their functions. 5
b. Describe the process of transcription in prokaryotes.
10. What are fossils? Explain how paleontological evidence shows that evolution of life forms has indeed taken place
on Earth. 5
11. British geneticist R.C. Punnett developed a graphical representation of a genetic cross
called “Punnett Square”. Mention the possible result this representation predicts of the
genetic cross carried. 1

12. State the two principal outcomes of the experiments conducted by Louis Pasteur on
origin of life. 1
13. How would the gene flow or genetic drift affect the population in which either of them
happen to take place ? 2
14. Compare in any three ways the chromosomal theory of inheritance as proposed by3
Sutton and Bovery with that of experimental results on pea plant presented by Mendel.

15. (a) Explain linkage and recombination as put forth by T.H. Morgan based on his 3
observations with Drosophila melanogaster crossing experiment.
(b) Write the basis on which Alfred Sturtevant explained gene mapping.
16. . Explain the mechanism of DNA replication with the help of a replication fork. What 3
role does the enzyme DNA-ligase play in a DNA replication fork ?

17. Construct and label a transcription unit from which the RNA segment given below has 3
been transcribed. Write the complete name of the enzyme that transcribed this RNA.

18. (a) Write two differences between Homo erectus and Homo habilis. 3
(b) Rearrange the following from early to late geologic periods :
Carboniferous, Silurian, Jurassic.
19. Differentiate between incomplete dominance and co-dominance. Substantiate your 5
answer with one example of each.
20. (a) Write the contributions of the following scientists in deciphering the genetic code. 4+1
Georce Gamow ; Hargobind Khorana ; Marshall Nirenberg ; Severo Ochoa
(b) State the importance of a Genetic code in protein biosynthesis.

21. State Mendel’s Law of Independent Assortment. 1

22. Write one example each of organisms exhibiting (i) male heterogamety, and (ii) female heterogamety.1
23. Why is the frequency of red-green colour blindness more in human males than in females? Explain. 2
 24. How is polygenic inheritance different from pleiotropy? Give one example of each. 3
OR
Explain the Hardy-Weinberg principle with the help of an algebraic equation.
25. What is adaptive radiation? How did Darwin explain it? 3
26. Explain the role of regulatory gene in a lac operon. Why is regulation of lac operon called as negative
regulation ? 3

27. Compare the processes of DNA replication and transcription in prokaryotes. 5

OR
(a) Explain Griffith’s ‘transforming principle’ experiment.
(b) In the above experiment, ‘‘heat which killed one type of bacteria, did not destroy the properties of genetic
material.’’ Justify.
28. Name a human genetic disorder due to the following : 1
(a) An additional X-chromosome in a male
(b) Deletion of one X-chromosome in a female 2
OR
State what does aneuploidy lead to.
29. Mention one example each from plants and animals exhibiting divergent evolution. 2
A segment of DNA molecule comprises of 546 nucleotides. How many cytosine nucleotides would be present in
it if the number of adeninenucleotides is 96 ?
30. (a) How does mutation occur ? 3
(b) Differentiate between point mutation and frameshift mutation.
31. ‘‘Use of heavy isotope of nitrogen by Meselson and Stahl demonstrated semi-conservative mode of
replication of a DNA molecule.’’ Explain how did they arrive at this conclusion. 3
OR
Explain the mechanism of translation that occurs in the ribosomes in a prokaryote.
32. According to Darwinian theory of natural selection the rate of appearance of new forms is 3
linked to the life-cycle or the life-span of an organism. Explain with the help of an example.
33. Mendel crossed a homozygous pea plant having yellow and round seeds with another pea 5
plant bearing green and wrinkled seeds. He found that in some of the F2 population new combination of parental
characters were observed.
How will you explain the appearance of a new combination of parental characters in F2-offsprings ? Support your
answer with the help of Punnett square.
OR
Describe S.L. Miller’s experiment. Comment on the observations he made and his contribution towards the origin
of life on Earth.
34. British geneticist R.C. Punnett developed a graphical representation of a genetic cross called 2 “Punnett
Square”. Mention the possible result this representation predicts of the genetic cross carried.
35. Explain the mechanism of DNA replication with the help of a replication fork. What role does the 3 enzyme
DNA-ligase play in a DNA replication fork ?
OR
Construct and label a transcription unit from which the RNA segment given below has been transcribed. Write the
complete name of the enzyme that transcribed this RNA.