Genetics
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
Genetics is a foundational course that explores the principles of heredity and the molecular mechanisms that govern the transmission of genetic information. Students examine the structure and function of genes, chromosomes, and DNA, gaining insights into classical Mendelian inheritance, genetic variation, and mutation. The course covers modern topics such as gene expression, genetic mapping, population genetics, biotechnology, and ethical considerations in genetic research. Through lectures, laboratory experiments, and problem-solving exercises, students develop a comprehensive understanding of how genetics influences development, health, and evolution in living organisms.
Recommended Textbook
Evolutionary Analysis 5th Edition by Jon C. Herron
Available Study Resources on Quizplus
20 Chapters
599 Verified Questions
599 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/951
Page 2
Chapter 1: A Case for Evolutionary Thinking: Understanding HIV
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18726
Sample Questions
Q1) The HIV virus contains all of the following components except ________.
A) integrase
B) double-stranded RNA
C) single-stranded RNA
D) reverse transcriptase
E) protease
Answer: B
Q2) Originally,HIV was thought to be restricted to transmission during homosexual contact between gay men.List other ways in which HIV is currently known to be transmitted.
Answer: HIV can be transmitted by heterosexual sex,oral sex,needle sharing,transfusion with contaminated blood products,other unsafe medical procedures,childbirth and breast-feeding.
Q3) Explain the mechanism HIV uses to avoid destruction by antibodies present in the human immune system.
Answer: The virus is constantly mutating its surface proteins,and these frequent changes in epitopes on the viral surface prevent the host cell from being able to recognize the virus over time.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 3
Chapter 2: The Pattern of Evolution
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18727
Sample Questions
Q1) The age of the Earth is estimated at 4.6 billion years.When are the first unicellular organisms thought to have evolved on Earth?
Answer: 3.2 to 3.4 billion years ago
Q2) The biological species concept,formalized by Ernst Mayr in 1942,defined a species as a ________.
A) group of individuals that inhabit the same location
B) group of individuals with similar morphological characteristics
C) population within and among which individuals actually or potentially interbreed and outside of which they do not interbreed
D) group of individuals who share similar allelic frequencies
E) population of individuals within and among which reproduction takes place frequently
Answer: C
Q3) On what basic physical principle does radiometric dating rely?
Answer: Unstable isotopes decay into either other elements or different isotopes of the same element.Each isotope decays at a constant rate,and the resultant half-life can be used to estimate the age of rocks and once-living materials.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 4
Chapter 3: Evolution by Natural Selection
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18728
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following U.S.Supreme Court decisions struck down laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution?
A) The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, 1925
B) Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968
C) Edwards v. Aguillard, 1987
D) Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al., 2005
Answer: B
Q2) Evolution by natural selection ________.
A) requires that multiple unverified assumptions are made before it can be considered a viable explanation
B) is only a theory and therefore not testable
C) can be tested experimentally
D) can be tested observationally
E) Both C and D.
Answer: E
Q3) ________,in general terms,is an individual's ability to survive and reproduce.
Answer: Fitness
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 5
Chapter 4: Estimating Evolutionary Trees
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18729
Sample Questions
Q1) The wings of bats and birds and the streamlined body form of sharks and whales represent examples of ________.
A) convergence
B) reversal
C) outgroups
D) a clade
Q2) A novel,derived character is also referred to as a(n)________.
A) apomorphy
B) plesiomorphy
C) synapomorphy
D) clade
Q3) A preexisting,ancestral character is also known as a(n)________.
A) apomorphy
B) plesiomorphy
C) synapomorphy
D) clade
Q4) Evaluate the merits and limits of parsimony,maximum likelihood,and Bayesian inference as tools for evaluating alternative phylogenies.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 6
Chapter 5: Variation Among Individuals
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18730
Sample Questions
Q1) What DNA modifications characterize epigenetic marks?
Q2) What is the term given to the average frequency of heterozygotes at all loci of an individual? This value can also be expressed as the fraction of genes that are heterozygous in the genotype of an average individual.
Q3) In DNA,the substitution of a purine for a pyrimidine or a pyrimidine for a purine is called a(n)________.
A) inversion
B) transmutation
C) transversion
D) transition
E) substitution
Q4) The process of producing proteins from DNA involves two different steps.What is the term used to describe each step,and what happens during each of these steps?
Q5) What does one call a mutation that occurs in a DNA sequence,but leaves the resulting amino acid sequence unchanged?
Q6) An organism that develops different phenotypes in different environments is said to exhibit what trait?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 7
Chapter 6: Mendelian Genetics in Populations I: Selection and Mutation
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18731
Sample Questions
Q1) Explain the significance of the experiments of Mukai and Burdick (1959)with laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster using the V (viable)and L (lethal)alleles.Be sure to explain their observation that a lethal allele was maintained at a higher than expected frequency,and the evolutionary significance of overdominance in these populations.
Q2) Although selection tends to eliminate deleterious alleles from populations,these mutations often persist because they are frequently created again.The rate at which deleterious alleles are being eliminated by selection is exactly equal to the rate at which new copies are being created by creation is termed ________.[three words]
Q3) Chun-Hong Chen and colleagues (2007)designed a new gene that would carry a strong selective advantage and confer the resistance to malaria on free-living mosquitoes.What was the acronym given this gene,and what does the acronym stand for?
Q4) In biallelic populations,where allelic frequencies are indicated by p and q,the resultant genotype frequencies are indicated by what algebraic formula?
Q5) Two processes that can maintain rare or deleterious alleles in populations are ________ [four words] and ________.[two words]
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 8
Chapter 7: Mendelian Genetics in Populations II:
Drift, & Nonrandom Mating
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18732
Sample Questions
Q1) With enough time and in the absence of other evolutionary mechanisms,genetic drift will ________.
A) reduce the genetic variation in a population
B) increase the genetic variation in a population
C) have no effect on the genetic variation of a population
D) None of the above.
Q2) There are occasions when theoretical expectations do not match with actual outcomes,as you see in the case of zygote formation leading to genetic drift.This discrepancy is known as ________.
A) sampling bias
B) sampling error
C) nonrandom mating
D) random mutations
Q3) At present,the neutral theory of molecular evolution ________.
A) is strongly supported by significant amounts of empirical evidence
B) has been disproven, as neutral mutations have not been shown to have been fixed in populations
C) is inclusive, as enough data has not yet been evaluated
D) seems to work in some species but not others
Page 9
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 8: Evolution at Multiple Loci: Linkage and Sex
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18733
Sample Questions
Q1) When genotypes at one locus of a chromosome are independent of genotypes at another locus of the same chromosome,the two loci are ________.
A) in linkage equilibrium
B) in linkage disequilibrium
C) nonrandomly associated
D) None of the above.
Q2) Which of the following reduces linkage disequilibrium by disrupting overrepresented haplotypes and by generating new ones?
A) sexual reproduction
B) genetic recombination
C) crossing over
D) All of the above.
Q3) The explanation for the accumulation of deleterious alleles in asexual populations over time,with the resulting genetic load,is known as ________.[two words]
Q4) If there is a nonrandom association between the genotypes at two loci on a chromosome,the loci are said to be in ________.[two words]
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
10
Chapter 9: Evolution at Multiple Loci: Quantitative Genetics
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18734
Sample Questions
Q1) The fraction known as the broad-sense heritability (where VG = genetic variation,VP = phenotypic variation,and VE = environmental variation)is expressed by ________.
A) VG/VP
B) VG/VG + VE
C) VG/VP + VE
D) VG/VE
E) A and B are both accurate.
Q2) Continuously variable traits typically have a(n)________,[two words] otherwise known as a "bell-curve."
Q3) To learn the location of and determine the role that QTLs have on phenotypes,researchers look for associations between a marker locus genotype and phenotype.Examples of research focusing on such methods have been conducted on
A) human personality traits
B) human diseases such as Crohn's disease
C) the speed of thoroughbred race horses
D) All of the above.
Q4) The abbreviation QTL stands for ________,[three words] which are those genes that influence nonqualitative traits.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 11
Chapter 10: Studying Adaptation: Evolutionary Analysis of
Form and Function
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18735
Sample Questions
Q1) To determine the role of mimicry in the behavior of the tephritid fly Zonosemata vittigera and the jumping spider Phidippus apacheanus,Greene and colleagues (1987)conducted carefully controlled experiments to correlate appearance and behaviors with the deterrence of predation.What two factors were found important in preventing predation of the tephritid fly by the jumping spiders?
Q2) To demonstrate the response of several Daphnia genotypes across a wide range of environments,Luc De Meester (1996)measured the change in phototactic behavior of Daphnia sampled from lakes that contained different numbers of predatory fish.Some genotypes altered their behavior in the presence versus absence of fish.The variation in response is termed ________.
A) phenotype-by-environment interaction
B) genotype-by-environment interaction
C) induced response interaction
D) reactive response interaction
Q3) Huey and colleagues (1989)performed experiments to examine thermoregulation in garter snakes.Explain the factors that were examined in their experiments,how the temperature of the snakes was monitored,and the specific details of how the snakes can regulate their temperature by selective movements.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 12
Chapter 11: Sexual Selection
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18736
Sample Questions
Q1) According to the experiments of Delph and colleagues (1996),is sexual selection often stronger for male or female flowers,and what tends to drive this selection?
Q2) Which of the following statements is true regarding the involvement of sexual selection on male function (pollen donation)leading to sexual dimorphism in flowers?
A) Female flowers typically receive far more pollen than is needed to fertilize their seeds.
B) Delph and colleagues (1996) found that out of 42 animal-pollinated plant species, 29% of females had the largest reproductive parts, but males had the largest perianths.
C) Studying wild radishes, Stanton and colleagues (1996) found that reproductive success through pollen donation was limited by pollinator visits, whereas reproductive success through seed production was not.
D) All of the above statements are true.
Q3) The differences between males and females of a species are called ________.
A) sexual morphism
B) male/female dimorphism
C) sexual differentiation
D) sexual dimorphism
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 13
Chapter 12: The Evolution of Social Behavior
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18737
Sample Questions
Q1) Compare and contrast,in general terms,cooperative breeding in birds,as described in your text with the case study on the white-fronted bee-eaters,also described in your text.
Q2) The exchange of favors between genetically unrelated individuals,to the benefit of both,is termed ________.
Q3) Which hypothesis has been proposed to explain the evolution of eusociality?
A) the haplodiploidy hypothesis
B) the Monogamy hypothesis
C) the ecology/life history hypothesis
D) All of the above.
Q4) Social behavior between animals where the actor benefits at the expense of the recipient is called ________.
A) mutual benefit
B) selfishness
C) altruism
D) spite
Q5) Hamilton's Rule is a simple expression that specifies the conditions under which altruism will increase in frequency.What is this expression?
Q6) Explain Hamilton's Rule in the context of altruistic behavior.
Page 14
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 13: Aging and Other Life-History Characters
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18738
Sample Questions
Q1) Two theories have been proposed regarding the aging process: the rate-of-living theory and the evolutionary theory of aging.Compare and contrast these two theories.Are there any similarities? What are their differences? Which elements are supported by research,and which elements have been refuted?
Q2) Telomeres,tandem repeat sequences at the ends of chromosomes,generally get shorter after every cell division.The resulting mechanism involves a protein called p53,which ________.
A) puts the cell into a permanently nondividing state
B) causes the cell to enter cell senescence
C) may induce the cell to undergo programmed cell death
D) All of the above.
Q3) The theory of aging that posits that aging is caused either by the accumulation of deleterious mutations later in life or by a trade-off between repair to damaged tissues and reproduction is called the ________.
A) theory of senescence
B) rate-of-living theory of aging
C) evolutionary theory of aging
D) particulate theory of aging
Q4) Alleles that influence more than one trait are referred to as ________.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 15
Chapter 14: Evolution and Human Health
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18739
Sample Questions
Q1) The specific parts of foreign proteins that the immune system recognizes and "remembers" are called ________.
A) receptor sites
B) binding sites
C) antibody sites
D) antigenic sites
E) None of the above.
Q2) The modern lifestyle of humans has generated an apparent increase in the frequency of some conditions,as compared to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.Which of the following is NOT one of them?
A) breast cancer
B) myopia
C) obesity
D) lactose intolerance
E) None of these.
Q3) The idea that fundamental aspects of human behavior are "hardwired" or "programmed" by human genes is sometimes called ________.[two words]
Q4) An insect or other organism that transmits disease from one host to another is called a ________.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 16
Chapter 15: Phylogenomics and the Molecular Basis of Adaptation
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18740
Sample Questions
Q1) Immediately following a gene duplication event,what is the most likely evolutionary outcome for a duplicated gene?
A) Duplicated genes usually evolve to perform new functions that differ from their original function (called neofunctionalization), or both duplicate copies evolve via subfunctionalization.
B) Most gene duplication events are selectively neutral and therefore the duplicated gene usually spreads through the population. It can later evolve a new function or keep its original function.
C) Most gene duplication events are deleterious to an organism and therefore are lost due to natural selection.
D) Most gene duplication events are selectively neutral and are therefore lost due to drift.
Q2) First,briefly describe the relationship between mutation rate and genome size for viruses and prokaryotes.Second,briefly describe the relationship between mutation rate and genome size for multicellular eukaryotes,if different from the first.
Q3) What are mobile genetic elements,and how do they affect host organisms?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 17
Chapter 16: Mechanisms of Speciation
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
28 Verified Questions
28 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18741
Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose a bird population that qualifies as a single species according to the Biological Species Concept (BSC)is separated into two isolated populations by an advancing glacier during an Ice Age.What will happen when the glacier retreats,allowing the two populations to come back together (secondary contact)? Be sure to account for all possible outcomes.
Q2) Relative to chromosome numbers,hybridization can produce speciation in two ways.What are they?
Q3) The model of speciation that hinges on a physical barrier preventing gene flow is ________ speciation.
Q4) The classical hypothesis of speciation is comprised of a three-step process.What are the three steps?
Q5) Isolating mechanisms leading to speciation have been documented by ________.
A) geographic isolation
B) polyploidy
C) temporal isolation
D) a mutation in a single gene
E) All of the above.
Q6) Species divergence due to mating behavior and sexual selection,as has been documented in the Hawaiian crickets,is termed ________.[two words]
Page 18
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 17: The Origins of Life and Precambrian Evolution
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
31 Verified Questions
31 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18742
Sample Questions
Q1) Proteins carry out much of the biochemistry of life,including DNA replication,but DNA stores the information needed to build correct proteins.Early life forms would have needed both proteins and DNA,but neither can exist without the other.The RNA world hypothesis is an appealing solution to this problem,because it states that ________.
A) RNA can evolve into DNA by natural selection
B) proteins can store the information needed for their own synthesis
C) RNA is more chemically stable than DNA
D) nucleotides of RNA are chemically similar to amino acids
E) some RNA molecules both store information and catalyze chemical reactions
Q2) Analysis of the sequences of the small subunit rRNA generated a shift in our current taxonomic scheme,with the addition of three levels called domains.What are the three domains?
Q3) Estimates of the age of Earth,taken from meteorites,date our planet to be approximately ________ years old.The BEST estimate of when life emerged,based on extrapolation of known and verifiable fossils,is approximately ________ years ago.In essence,then,life emerged approximately ________ years after Earth formed.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 19
Chapter 18: Evolution and the Fossil Record
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18743
Sample Questions
Q1) An exceptionally rich fossil deposit is known as a(n)________.
Q2) The ________ [two words] is a well-known set of soft-bodied organisms living just before the Cambrian period,which probably includes at least simple animals and early bilaterians.
Q3) The famous Cambrian-era fossil deposit known as the Burgess Shale is now estimated to contain fossils of how many animal phyla?
A) None animals had not appeared at the time.
B) just two or three anatomically simple animal phyla
C) about the same number as those alive today
D) two or three times as many as alive today
E) about half as many as are alive today
Q4) Which of these is a niche that Cambrian animals occupied that,as far as we know,their predecessors did not?
A) grazing on microbial mats
B) feeding on organic debris
C) absorbing nutrients across membranes
D) predation while actively swimming
E) None of the above.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 20
Chapter 19: Development and Evolution
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18744
Sample Questions
Q1) All of the following factors can cause rapid evolutionary "jumps" except ________.
A) single alleles with major effects on life history
B) hybridization between species, producing a form that differs from both parents
C) stabilizing selection on homeotic genes
D) horizontal gene transfer between unrelated organisms
E) transposable genetic elements, or transposons
Q2) The simplest hypothesis for the original function of Hox genes is that the common ancestor of bilateral animals had Hox genes that were ________.
A) expressed in the development of its appendages
B) scattered throughout the genome
C) expressed in the canonical spatial pattern
D) crucial for the development of its digestive system
E) organized in multiple clusters
Q3) When selection increases one feature of an organism at the expense of another,we speak of an evolutionary ________.
Q4) The simplest hypothesis for the original function of Hox genes is that they were expressed in the ________ [two words] in early animals.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 20: Human Evolution
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/18745
Sample Questions
Q1) Which piece of evidence BEST supports the "out of Africa" model of the evolution of modern humans?
A) African populations show the greatest diversity in numbers at a short tandem repeat (STR) locus on chromosome 12.
B) African Homo ergaster/erectus appear almost simultaneously with Asian Homo erectus, 1.6 to 1.9 million years ago.
C) Both Indonesian fossil Homo erectus and modern Australian aboriginal populations (which probably reached Australia by way of Indonesia) have unusually prominent and straight brow ridges.
D) In most regions, there does not seem to be a rapid replacement of earlier hominins by Homo sapiens.
E) There is no solid evidence supporting the "out of Africa" hypothesis.
Q2) Which of the following organisms is NOT considered a great ape?
A) human
B) baboon
C) orangutan
D) bonobo
E) gorilla
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 22