Choose The Correct Option For The Following Biomolecule Terms Flashcards

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1. The monomers of DNA and RNA are

a. amino acids.

b. monosaccharides.

c. nucleotides.

d. fatty acids.

e. nucleic acids.

c

1. DNA replication

a. occurs through the addition of nucleotides to the end of the DNA molecule.

b. results in the formation of four new DNA strands.

c. produces two daughter DNA molecules that are complementary to each other.

d. uses each strand of a DNA molecule as a template for the creation of a new strand.

e. begins when two DNA molecules join together to exchange segments.

d

1. If one strand of DNA is CGGTAC, the corresponding strand would be

A) GCCTAG.

B) CGGTAC.

C) GCCAUC.

D) TAACGT.

E) GCCAUG.

e

1. Which of the following enzymes catalyzes the elongation of a new DNA strand?

A) helicase

B) primase

C) ligase

D) single-stranded binding protein

E) DNA polymerase

e

1. Why does a DNA strand grow only in the 5' to 3' direction?

a. because DNA polymerases can only add nucleotides to the 3' end of the growing molecule

b. because DNA polymerases can only add nucleotides to the 5' end of the growing molecule

c. because mRNA can only read a DNA molecule in the 5' to 3' direction

d. because the DNA molecule only unwinds in the 5' to 3' direction

e. because DNA polymerase requires the addition of a starter nucleotide at the 5' end

a

1. Which of the following options best depicts the flow of information when a gene directs the synthesis of a cellular component?

a. RNA DNA RNA protein

b. DNA RNA protein

c. protein RNA DNA

d. DNA amino acid RNA protein

e. DNA tRNA mRNA protein

b

1. Experiments have demonstrated that the "words" of the genetic code (the units that specify amino acids) are

a. single nucleotides.

b. two-nucleotide sequences.

c. three-nucleotide sequences.

d. nucleotide sequences of various lengths.

e. enzymes.

c

1. Which of the following occurs when RNA polymerase attaches to the promoter DNA?

a. elongation of the growing RNA molecule

b. termination of the RNA molecule

c. addition of nucleotides to the DNA template

d. initiation of a new RNA molecule

e. initiation of a new polypeptide chain

d

1. Where do transcription and translation occur in prokaryotic cells?

a. on the plasma membrane

b. in the nucleus

c. in the cytoplasm

d. in chromatophores

e. in the cell wall

c

1. Which of the following takes place during translation?

a. the conversion of genetic information from the language of nucleic acids to the language of proteins

b. the conversion of genetic information from DNA nucleotides into RNA nucleotides

c. the addition of nucleotides to a DNA template

d. the conversion of genetic information from the language of proteins to the language of enzymes

e. DNA replication

a

1. Consider the following sentence: "The dog did not eat." Which of the following variations of this sentence is most like a reading frame mutation?

a. The dog dog did not eat.

b. The did dog not eat.

c. The dod idn ote at.

d. The did not eat.

e. The dog did dog did not eat.

c

1. A base substitution mutation in a gene does not always result in a different protein. Which of the following factors could account for this?

a. the fact that the mutation affects only the sequence of the protein's amino acids, so the protein stays the same

b. the double-ring structure of adenine and guanine

c. a correcting mechanism that is part of the mRNA molecule

d. the fact that such mutations are usually accompanied by a complementary deletion

e. the fact that some amino acids are specified from more than one codon

e

1. When DNA from two sources is combined into one single piece of DNA, it is known as

A) cloned DNA.

B) recombinant DNA.

C) a vector.

D) a plasmid.

E) a DNA library.

b

1. The production of multiple identical copies of gene-sized pieces of DNA defines

A) gene cloning.

B) plasmid transformation.

C) clonal selection.

D) tissue culturing.

E) plasmolysis.

a

1. In the process of human gene cloning using recombinant plasmids, the bacterial plasmid

A) functions as a vector.

B) is the source of the gene to be cloned.

C) is cultured inside the human cell, which contains the gene to be cloned.

D) is used to insert the human gene into the bacterial chromosome.

E) comes from the same organism as the gene of interest.

a

1. DNA ligase binds

A) exons together.

B) polymerase to the promotor.

C) nucleotides together.

D) introns together.

E) an intron to an exon.

c

1. Restriction enzymes

A) edit proteins.

B) cut DNA at specific sites.

C) stop transcription.

D) bind together strands of DNA.

E) bind RNA fragments together.

c

1. Restriction enzymes specifically recognize and cut short sequences of DNA called

A) promoter sequences.

B) short terminal repeats.

C) sticky ends.

D) DNA fragments.

E) restriction sites.

e

1. DNA fragments that have matching sticky ends are joined by covalent bonds formed by the action of

A) DNA ligase.

B) DNA polymerase.

C) DNA helicase.

D) covalentase.

E) a restriction enzyme.

a

1. A vaccine works by

A) inhibiting bacterial replication.

B) stimulating the immune system.

C) inhibiting viral replication.

D) preventing the translation of mRNA.

E) stimulating the secretion of insulin.

b

1. Which of the following statements about DNA technology is false?

A) DNA technology is now used to mass-produce human insulin.

B) DNA technology is now used to mass-produce human growth hormone.

C) DNA technology is now used to create cells that can identify and kill cancer cells.

D) DNA technology is now used to produce vaccines that are harmless mutants of a pathogen.

E) DNA technology is now used to produce vaccines that use the smallpox virus but replace some of the genes that
produce immunity to smallpox with genes that produce immunity to other diseases.

c

1. A transgenic animal is

A) an animal that is the first of its kind to bear a particular allele.

B) an animal in which a genetic defect has been corrected using recombinant DNA therapy.

C) an animal containing a gene from a third "parent," which may even be another species.

D) an animal containing genes from both its parents.

E) an animal containing genes from three or more species.

c

1. In order for gene therapy to be permanent,

A) the defective gene must first be removed from all somatic cells.

B) the normal gene must be added to the germ line cells.

C) the defective gene must undergo restriction enzyme analysis first.

D) the normal gene must first be treated with UV radiation to ensure noninfectivity.

E) the normal gene must be transferred to somatic cells that can continuously multiply.

e

1. Genetically modifying ________ cells may directly affect future generations.

A) intestinal

B) basal

C) somatic

D) germ

E) T

d

1. If you commit a crime, you need to make sure that you do not leave even the smallest speck of blood, hair, or other organic matter from your body. If you do, the DNA in this material can be amplified by ________, subjected to genetic analysis, and used to identify you as the perpetrator of the crime.

A) ATP

B) PCR

C) blotting

D) RFLP

E) reverse transcriptase

b

1. Gel electrophoresis sorts DNA molecules on the basis of their

A) nucleotide sequence.

B) solubility in water.

C) ability to bind to mRNA.

D) solubility in the gel.

E) size.

e

1. During the process of electrophoresis, the ________ functions like a thick filter, separating the samples according to their size.

A) sample well

B) sample mixture

C) positively charged electrode

D) negatively charged electrode

E) gel

e

1. The core theme of biology is

A) taxonomy.

B) genetics.

C) ecology.

D) evolution.

E) metabolism.

d

1. Darwin found that some of the species on the Galápagos islands resembled species of the South American mainland

A) less than they resembled animals on ecologically similar but distant islands.

B) more than they resembled animals on ecologically similar but distant islands.

C) less than they resembled animals in Europe.

D) less than they resembled animals from Australia.

E) very closely; in most cases, the species from the mainland and the islands were identical.

b

1. Who developed a theory of evolution almost identical to Darwin's?

A) Lyell

B) Wallace

C) Aristotle

D) Lamarck

E) Mendel

b

1. During the 1950s, a scientist named Lysenko tried to solve the food shortages in the Soviet Union by breeding wheat that could grow in Siberia. He theorized that if individual wheat plants were exposed to cold, they would develop additional cold tolerance and pass it to their offspring. Based on the ideas of artificial and natural selection, do you think this project worked as planned?

A) Yes, the wheat probably evolved better cold tolerance over time through inheritance of acquired characteristics.

B) No, because Lysenko took his wheat seeds straight to Siberia instead of exposing them incrementally to cold.

C) No, because there was no process of selection based on inherited traits. Lysenko assumed that exposure could induce a plant to develop additional cold tolerance and that this tolerance would be passed to the plant's offspring.

D) No, because Lysenko used wheat varieties that had lost their cold tolerance as a result of disuse.

E) Yes, because this is generally the method used by plant breeders to develop new crops.

c

1. Broccoli, cabbages, and brussels sprouts all descend from the same wild mustard and can still interbreed. These varieties were produced by

A) speciation.

B) artificial selection.

C) natural selection.

D) genetic drift.

E) inheritance of acquired characteristics.

b

1. Which of the following best expresses the concept of natural selection?

A) differential reproductive success based on inherited characteristics

B) inheritance of acquired characteristics

C) change in response to need

D) a process of constant improvement, leading eventually to perfection

E) survival of the fittest

a

1. A dog breeder wishes to develop a breed that does not bark. She starts with a diverse mixture of dogs. Generation after generation, she allows only the quietest dogs to breed. After 30 years of work she has a new breed of dog with interesting traits, but on average, the dogs still bark at about the same rate as other dog breeds. Which of the following would be a logical explanation for her failure?

A) There is no variation for the trait (barking).

B) The tendency to bark is not a heritable trait.

C) The selection was artificial, not natural, so it did not produce evolutionary change.

D) There was no selection (differential reproductive success) related to barking behavior.

E) She did not breed enough of the frequently barking dogs to obtain the desired result.

b

1. Which of the following statements regarding natural selection is false?

A) Natural selection is more of an editing process than a creative mechanism.

B) Natural selection depends on the local environment at the current time.

C) Natural selection starts with the creation of new alleles that are directed toward improving an organism's fitness.

D) Natural selection and evolutionary change can occur in a short period of time (a few generations).

E) Natural selection can be observed working in organisms alive today.

c

1. Which of the following disciplines has found evidence for evolution based on the native distributions (locations) of living species?

A) molecular biology

B) comparative anatomy

C) biogeography

D) paleontology

E) embryology

c

1. Which of the following represents a pair of homologous structures?

A) the wing of a bat and the scales of a fish

B) the wing of a bat and the flipper of a whale

C) the antennae of an insect and the eyes of a bird

D) the feathers of a bird and the wing membrane of a bat

E) the wing of a bat and the wing of a butterfly

b

1. A population is

A) a group of individuals of the same species living in the same place at the same time.

B) all individuals of a species, regardless of location or time period in which they live.

C) a group of individuals of different species living in the same place at the same time.

D) a group of individuals of a species plus all of the other species with which they interact.

E) a group of species that share a common characteristic.

a

1. Microevolution, or evolution at its smallest scale, occurs when

A) n individual's traits change in response to environmental factors.

B) a geographic area is altered by erosion, volcanic eruptions, or other geological forces.

C) a community of organisms changes due to the extinction of several dominant species.

D) a new species arises from an existing species.

E) a population's allele frequencies change over a span of generations.

e

1. The ultimate source of all new alleles is

A) mutation in parent cells (asexual organisms) or in cells that produce gametes (sexual organisms).

B) any form of mutation, regardless of the cell type.

C) chromosomal duplication.

D) genetic drift.

E) natural selection.

a

1. Which of the following terms represents the frequency of heterozygotes in a population that is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

A) p

B) q

C) 2pq

D) q2

E) p2

c

1. Imagine that you are studying a very large population of moths that is isolated from gene flow. A single gene controls wing color. Half of the moths have white-spotted wings (genotype WW or Ww) and half of the moths have plain brown wings (ww). There are no new mutations, individuals mate randomly, and there is no natural selection on wing color. How will p, the frequency of the dominant allele, change over time?

A) p will increase; the dominant allele will eventually take over and become most common in the population.

B) p will neither increase nor decrease; it will remain more or less constant under the conditions described.

C) p will decrease because of genetic drift.

D) p will increase initially, then decrease until the W allele vanishes from the population.

E) p will fluctuate rapidly and randomly because of genetic drift.

b

1. Genetic drift resulting from a disaster that drastically reduces population size is called

A) natural selection.

B) gene flow.

C) the bottleneck effect.

D) nonrandom mating.

E) the founder effect.

c

1. Thirty people are selected for a long-term mission to colonize a planet many light years away from Earth. The mission is successful and the population rapidly grows to several hundred individuals. However, certain genetic diseases are unusually common in this group, and their gene pool is quite different from that of the Earth population they have left behind. Which of the following phenomena has left its mark on this population?

A) founder effect

B) bottleneck effect

C) gene flow

D) high rates of mutation

E) natural selection

a

1. Genetic differences between populations tend to be reduced by

A) gene flow.

B) mutation.

C) the founder effect.

D) the bottleneck effect.

E) natural selection.

a

1. Which of the following will tend to produce adaptive changes in populations?

A) genetic drift

B) gene flow

C) mutation

D) natural selection

E) the founder effect

d

1. A rabbit population consists of animals that are either very dark on top or very light on top. The color pattern is not related to sex. No rabbit shows intermediate coloration (medium darkness). This pattern might result from

A) disruptive selection.

B) directional selection.

C) stabilizing selection.

D) sexual selection.

E) random mating.

a

1. Mate-attracting features such as the bright plumage of a male peacock result from

A) intersexual selection.

B) intrasexual selection.

C) disruptive selection.

D) directional selection.

E) stabilizing selection.

a

1. A woman struggling with a bacterial illness is prescribed a month's supply of a potent antibiotic. She takes the antibiotic for about two weeks and feels much better. Should she save the remaining two-week supply, or should she continue taking the drug?

a. She should save the drug for later, because if she keeps taking it the bacteria will evolve resistance.

b. She should save the drug for use the next time the illness strikes.

c. She should save the drug because antibiotics are in short supply and she may need it to defend herself against a bioterrorism incident.

d. She should continue taking the drug because otherwise the

bacteria will evolve by genetic drift.

e. She should continue taking the drug until her immune system can completely eliminate the infection. Otherwise the remaining bacteria in her system may recover, and they will probably be resistant.

e

1. Which of the following would a biologist describe as microevolution?

A) the formation of new species

B) the extinction of species

C) dramatic biological changes, such as the origin of flight, within a taxon

D) the generation of biodiversity

E) a change in allele frequencies within the gene pool of a population

e

1. A biological species is defined as a group of organisms that

A) are physically similar.

B) are genetically similar.

C) share a recent common ancestor.

D) live together in a location and carry out identical ecological roles.

E) have the potential to interbreed in nature and produce fertile offspring.

e

1. The biological species concept is

A) applicable to all forms of life, past and present.

B) applicable to all present life forms, but not to fossil organisms whose reproductive behavior cannot be observed.

C) easy to apply to all present sexually reproducing organisms, but harder to apply to asexual organisms and fossils.

D) difficult to put into practice even for present sexual organisms, and useless for asexual organisms and fossils.

E) based on DNA, so it applies to all forms of life from which a DNA sample can be collected.

d

1. Which provides the most general and correct description of the idea of a reproductive barrier?

A) any feature (of geography, behavior, or morphology) that keeps one species from mating with another

B) a biological difference between two species that prevents them from successfully interbreeding

C) a geographic barrier that separates two species and prevents gene flow between them

D) a difference in reproductive biology between two species that makes hybrid individuals less fertile

E) a difference in behavior that keeps two species from interbreeding

b

1. Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates two species of sea cucumbers, whose sperm and eggs often bump into each other but do not cross-fertilize because of incompatible proteins on their surfaces?

A) temporal isolation

B) habitat isolation

C) behavioral isolation

D) mechanical isolation

E) gametic isolation

e

1. Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates a pair of species that could interbreed except that one mates at dusk and the other at dawn?

A) temporal isolation

B) habitat isolation

C) behavioral isolation

D) mechanical isolation

E) gametic isolation

a

1. Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates two flowering plant species that could interbreed except that one has a deep flower tube and is pollinated by bumblebees, whereas the other has a short, narrow flower tube and is pollinated by honeybees?

A) temporal isolation

B) habitat isolation

C) behavioral isolation

D) mechanical isolation

E) gametic isolation

d

1. Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates a pair of moth species that could interbreed except that the females' mating pheromones are not attractive to the males of the other species?

A) temporal isolation

B) habitat isolation

C) behavioral isolation

D) mechanical isolation

E) gametic isolation

c

1. Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates a pair of insect species that could interbreed except that one mates on goldenrod flowers and the other on autumn daisies that both blossom at the same time?

A) temporal isolation

B) habitat isolation

C) behavioral isolation

D) mechanical isolation

E) gametic isolation

b

1. Two species that sometimes mate and produce vigorous but sterile offspring are separated by

A) mechanical isolation.

B) gametic isolation.

C) reduced hybrid fertility.

D) reduced hybrid viability.

E) hybrid breakdown.

c

1. The likelihood of allopatric speciation increases when a splinter population is ________ and ________ the broader range of the species.

A) small . . . isolated from

B) large . . . nearby

C) large . . . isolated from

D) small . . . nearby

E) large . . . continuous with

a

1. Speciation without geographic isolation is called ________ speciation.

A) sympatric

B) allopatric

C) incomplete

D) diversifying

E) punctuated

a

1. Organisms that possess more than two complete sets of chromosomes are said to be

A) haploid.

B) polyploid.

C) diploid.

D) hybrids.

E) allopatric.

b

1. Sympatric speciation commonly occurs through ________ in plants, but is more likely to occur through ________ in animals.

A) polyploidy . . . habitat differentiation and sexual selection

B) habitat differentiation and sexual selection . . . polyploidy

C) asexual reproduction . . . chromosome duplications

D) polyploidy . . . geographic barriers

E) self-pollination . . . polyploidy and other genetic mechanisms

a

1. In a hybrid zone, ________ can occur if the reproductive barrier between two species is weak, as seen among cichlids in the murky waters of modern Lake Victoria.

A) reinforcement

B) fusion

C) allopatric speciation

D) sympatric speciation

E) reproductive isolation

b