DNA
18.1. The __________was discovered serendipitously while Robert Brown was studying
pollination in orchids.
A) mitochondria
B) endoplasmic reticulum
C) nucleus
D) chloroplast
E) cell wall
18.2. _________is a process that involves one duplication and one division and the
production of diploid cells.
A) Meiosis
B) Mitosis
C) Arabidopsis
D) Photosynthesis
E) Protein Synthesis
18.3. _________is a process that involves one duplication and two divisions and the
production of haploid cells.
A) Meiosis
B) Mitosis
C) Arabidopsis
D) Photosynthesis
E) Protein Synthesis
18.4. Which of the following cells are haploid?
A) cells of the vas deferens
B) cells of the prostate gland
C) cells of the penis
D) sperm cells
E) cells of the scrotum
18.5. Fertilization normally results in a ________zygote.
A) haploid
B) diploid
C) tetraploid
D) asexual
E) ectopic
18.6. The ____________is the main hereditary organelle in plants.
A) mitochondria
B) chloroplast
C) nucleus
D) ribosome
E) genetosome
18.7. The ____________is the hereditary organelle in animals and humans.
A) mitochondria
B) chloroplast
C) nucleus
D) ribosome
E) genetosome
18.8. The process where diploid cells divide to form haploid cells is known as
_________.
A) Meiosis
B) Mitosis
C) Arabidopsis
D) Photosynthesis
E) Fertilization
18.9. The process where diploid cells divide to form diploid cells is known as
_________.
A) Meiosis
B) Mitosis
C) Arabidopsis
D) Photosynthesis
E) Fertilization
18.10. The process where haploid cells fuse to form diploid cells is known as
A) Meiosis
B) Mitosis
C) Arabidopsis
D) Photosynthesis
E) Fertilization
18.11 Miescher knew that nuclein was a novel kind of chemical because:
A) it was not a protein because it was not soluble in the solvents that solubilized proteins
B) it was not a protein because it was not digested by pepsin
C) it was not a carbohydrate because it contained other atoms (e.g. N and P) besides C, H
and O in the following proportion (C(H2O))
D) it was not a fat, because it did not float above the aqueous solution
E ) all of the above
18.12. Miescher’s manuscript suggesting that nuclein was the genetic material was:
A) accepted by a journal and widely read.
B) accepted by a journal but only read by 7 people.
C) rejected by a journal as being too speculative and unbelievable.
D) accepted by a journal with a large fanfare.
E) accepted by a journal, but there was a typo in the acceptance letter.
18.13. In 1895, E. B. Wilson reached “ the remarkable conclusion that inheritance may,
perhaps, be effected by the physical transmission of a particular chemical compound
from parent to offspring.” This chemical is now known as:
A) protein
B) DNA
C) RNA
D) vitamin D
E) adenosine
18.14. Which of the following are purines?
A) cytosine and guanine
B) thymine and guanine
C) adenine and thymine
D) cytosine and guanine
E) adenine and guanine
18.15. Which of the following can be synthesized from urine?
A) caffeine
B) theobromine
C) guanine
D) adenine
E) all of the above
18.16. According to Walter Jones who studied the degradation of nucleic acids with a
reductionist approach, plant nuclei contained ________and animal nuclei
contained___________.
A) RNA, RNA
B) DNA, DNA
C) RNA, DNA
D) DNA, RNA
E) none of the above
18.17. The tetranucleotide hypothesis stated that:
A) nucleic acids were composed of four atoms, C, O, N, and P
B) nucleic acids were composed of four bases, guanine, thymine, adenine and cytosine
C) nucleic acids were composed of four pyrimidines
D) nucleic acids were composed of four purines
E) nucleic acids were composed of repeating units of four nucleotides
18.18. William Astbury’s X-Ray diffraction data seemed to preclude DNA from being
the genetic material because:
A) The regularity in the X-Ray diffraction pattern due to the seeming uniform
arrangement of nucleotides meant that DNA was too simple to carry genetic instructions
B) DNA appeared to be composed of 3 helices
C) DNA appeared to be composed of 1 helix
D) DNA did not appear to be composed of any helices
E) The structure of DNA was too complicated for it to be the genetic material.
18.19. Fred Griffith’s experiments showed that
A) mice treated with smooth pneumococci died
B) mice treated with rough pneumococci lived
C) mice treated with heat-killed smooth pneumococci lived
D) mice treated with killed smooth pneumococci and live rough pneumococci died
E) all of the above
18.20. Avery interpreted Griffith’s experiment to mean that
A) genetic material was transferred from the dead bacteria to the live bacteria
B) genetic material was transferred from the live bacteria to the dead bacteria
C) proteins were transferred from the live bacteria to the dead bacteria
D) proteins were transferred from the dead bacteria to the live bacteria
E) none of the above
18.21. The hereditary material that transformed avirulent bacteria to virulent bacteria
turned out to be:
A) protein
B) mRNA
C) tRNA
D) DNA
E) RNA
18.22. The difference between Chargaff and the organic chemists that were interested in
knowing the chemical structure of DNA is that Chargaff started with the following
assumption when he isolated DNA.
A) DNA is bound to proteins
B) DNA is bound to histones
C) DNA has less oxygen than RNA
D) that DNA contained nitrogen and phosphorus
E) that DNA was a large, complicated information-bearing molecule
18.23. ___________obtained high quality X-ray diffraction pictures of DNA.
A) Linus Pauling
B) James Watson
C) Francis Crick
D) Rosalind Franklin
E) Watson and Crick
18.24. ___________ isolated DNA to study its chemical structure.
A) Linus Pauling
B) James Watson
C) Erwin Chargaff
D) Rosalind Franklin
E) Watson and Crick
18.25. ___________ performed transformation experiments to show that DNA was the
genetic material.
A) Oswald Avery
B) Linus Pauling
C) Rosalind Franklin
D) Erwin Chargaff
E) Watson and Crick
18.26 .___________________ began isolating DNA based on the assumption that it was
a complex information-bearing macromolecule.
A) Phoebus Levene
B) Walter Jones
C) Erwin Chargaff
D) James Watson
E) Francis Crick
18.27. The double nature of the DNA helix was important for the
A) transcription function of RNA
B) replication function of DNA
C) translation function of DNA
D) physical support of such a large molecule
E) for the splitting of the Nobel prize among two scientists, Watson and Crick
18.28. Who said, “But diabolical as Hitler was, and I don’t want to minimize the evil he
perpetuated using false genetic arguments, we should not be held in hostage to his awful
past. For the genetic dice will continue to inflict cruel fates on all too many individuals
and their families who do not deserve this damnation. Decency demands that someone
must rescue them from genetic hells. If we don’t play God, who will?”
A) Friedrich Miescher
B) Erwin Chargaff
C) Francis Crick
D) James Watson
E) Mother Teresa
18.29. __________ used Rosalind Franklin’s unpublished data to create a so-called
prediction of the structure of DNA.
A) William Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin
B) Victor Frankenstein and John Aldini
C) William and Lawrence Bragg
D) Linus Pauling and Robert Corey
E) James Watson and Francis Crick
18.30. ________ is the science of the improvement of the human race by better breeding.
A) Eugenics
B) Fauxgenics
C) Progenics
D) Congenics
E) Genoracenics
18.31. According to Charles Davenport, poverty is ultimately
A) due to nutritional deficiencies
B) due to economic conditions
C) due to bad genes
D) due to microbes
E) all of the above
18.32. Since Harry Laughlin found a greater number of Russians, Jews and Italians in
public insane asylums, than their proportion in the population would predict, he
concluded that
A) Russians, Jews and Italians had inferior genes
B) immigration of Russians Jews and Italians into the United States should be limited
C) Both A and B
D) the more wealthy natives went to private, not public insane asylums
E) the chefs in the asylums made delicious “ethnic foods”
18.33. Which of the following were considered to be dysgenic traits by the Eugenic
Record Office?
A) poverty
B) criminal behavior
C) feeblemindedness
D) licentious behavior
E) all of the above
18.34. Which of the following books was Hitler’s “bible”?
A) The Race to the White House
B) The Racing Spirit
C) How to Pass a Test
D) How to Pass Gas
E) The Passing of the Great Race
18.35. A given trait may depend on:
A) the sequence of nucleotides in a region of DNA known as a gene.
B) the presence of related genes.
C) the environment.
D) non genetic inheritable factors, including the environment in the womb in which the
embryo developed.
E) all of the above.
18.36. The field, pioneered by Craig Venter, whose goal it is to build a living organism
from chemical substrates is called:
A) physiology
B) anatomy
C) genetics
D) biochemistry
E) synthetic genomics