The main function of the rough endoplasmic reticulum is the production of
A) mitochondria and proteins secreted by the cell.
B) hydrogen peroxide and steroid hormones secreted by the cell.
C) ribosomes and steroid hormones.
D) membrane and proteins secreted by the cell.
Which of the following is dependent on the ability of water molecules to form hydrogen
bonds with other molecules besides water?
A) the evaporative cooling of skin surfaces
B) the milder temperatures of coastal regions compared to inland areas
C) the ability of certain insects to walk on the surface of water
D) the universality of water as a solvent
Consider the following sentence: “The dog did not eat.” Which of the following
variations of this sentence is most like a base substitution mutation?
A) The dog did not et.
B) The dog dog did not eat.
C) The did dog not eat.
D) The doe did not eat.
Physicians routinely give their patients pulmonary function tests in order to measure
characteristics of lung function. The most common of these tests, spirometry, measures
both the volume and the speed of air entering and exiting the lungs. In this test, a person
first breathes normally while breathing into a spirometer, a machine that measures air
volume and air speed. Then the person takes the deepest breath possible and exhales as
hard as possible for 6 seconds into the spirometer. The resulting data are plotted on a
graph of volume (y axis) versus time (x axis). Spirometry is useful not only for
assessing lung function in healthy patients but also for characterizing patients with lung
conditions such as pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, or emphysema.
A sample graph for a healthy adult male is shown below. Normal breathing occurs
between points A and B, a maximal inhalation occurs at point C, and a maximal
exhalation occurs at point D. Normal breathing resumes between points E and F.
For this data set, how much air is exhaled during a normal breath?
A) 500 mL
B) 1,200 mL
C) 2,300 mL
D) 2,800 mL
The example of ocean and lake stickleback fishes indicates that morphology can be
altered
A) only by changing the sequences of protein-coding genes.
B) by altering the expression of a developmental gene in some parts of the body but not
others.
C) by environmental factors (in this case, pollution).
D) by the elimination of a gene (Pitx1) from a population, which leads to loss of the
trait (body armor and spines).
Why would a person not get vitamin A from a salad filled with leafy green vegetables
unless the salad also has nuts, cheese, or meat?
A) because vitamin A is fat-soluble
B) because vitamin A is only found in meat
C) because vitamin A is water-soluble
D) because vitamin A is needed to maintain osmotic balance of human cells
After reading the paragraph below, answer the questions that follow.
While DNA microarrays can be used to determine whether or not a gene is expressed in
a cell, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) can be used to measure the extent
of gene expression in cells and tissues. To perform qPCR, mRNA is extracted from cells
and reverse transcribed to complementary DNA (cDNA). Using fluorescent DNA
molecules that recognize specific gene sequences and DNA polymerase, copies of the
gene sequence of interest are made. After the copies are made, a fluorescent detector
measures the intensity of the fluorescent signal, which is proportional to the number of
mRNA transcripts in the cell and corresponds to the level of gene expression in the cell.
Which of the following statements regarding the comparison of DNA microarrays and
qPCR is false?
A) Both methods use fluorescent DNA molecules and cDNA.
B) Both methods can determine whether a gene has been turned on or not.
C) Both methods use mRNA extracted from cells.
D) Both methods can quantify the levels of gene expression in cells.
For a given area and time period, the amount of solar energy converted to chemical
energy in organic compounds is called
A) primary succession.
B) secondary succession.
C) primary production.
D) secondary production.
You are trying to produce a cDNA library starting from mRNA in skeletal muscle cells.
You add the following components to a tube and let the reaction proceed: skeletal
muscle mRNA, free nucleotides, and DNA polymerase. After inspecting the products of
the reaction, you do not find any cDNA molecules at all. What is the most likely
explanation for this result?
A) You used mRNA instead of genomic DNA as the source material.
B) You used DNA polymerase instead of reverse transcriptase.
C) cDNA libraries can only be made from skin cell mRNA molecules.
D) You forgot to add a radiolabeled nucleic acid probe to the tube.
Compared to the vital capacity, how much air can lungs actually hold?
A) always less
B) sometimes less
C) always more
D) sometimes more
Which of the following types of reproductive barriers separates a pair of insect species
that could interbreed but for the fact that one lives on goldenrod plants and the other on
autumn daisies in the same general area?
A) temporal isolation
B) habitat isolation
C) behavioral isolation
D) gametic isolation
“Lucy,” who belongs to the group ________, was a bipedal hominin with a brain
smaller than that of humans.
A) Australopithecus
B) Homo erectus
C) Ardipithecus
D) Homo habilis
Sickle-cell disease is an example of
A) codominance and pleiotropy.
B) multiple alleles, pleiotropy, and blended inheritance.
C) codominance and multiple alleles.
D) multiple alleles and pleiotropy.
An animal’s locomotor muscle was dissected and the percentages of fast and slow fibers
were determined and plotted in the figure below. Which of the following muscles is the
likely source for this data?
A) flight muscles of a migratory bird
B) thigh muscles of a marathon runner
C) neck muscles of a chimpanzee
D) jumping muscles of a frog
Caddisflies are insects that lay their eggs on the bottom of streams. The eggs mature
into larvae, and eventually the larvae pupate, move to the surface of the stream, shed
their pupal membranes, and emerge as winged adults. Caddisflies demonstrate
A) incomplete metamorphosis.
B) complete metamorphosis.
C) alteration of generations.
D) animal diversification.
Which of the following statements regarding the currently available fossil record is
false?
A) The currently available fossil record shows that the earliest fossils of life are about
3.5 billion years old.
B) The currently available fossil record shows that younger strata were laid down on
top of older strata.
C) The currently available fossil record documents gradual evolutionary changes that
link one group of organisms to another.
D) The currently available fossil record shows that the first life-forms were eukaryotes.
A testcross is
A) a mating between an individual of unknown genotype and an individual
homozygous recessive for the trait of interest.
B) a mating between an individual of unknown genotype and an individual
heterozygous for the trait of interest.
C) a mating between two individuals heterozygous for the trait of interest.
D) a mating between two individuals of unknown genotype.
The aspect of conservation ecology concerned with returning degraded ecosystems (as
nearly as possible) to their natural state is
A) bioremediation.
B) sustainable development.
C) restoration ecology.
D) landscape ecology.
Diatoms
A) are autotrophs with a glassy cell wall that contains silica.
B) are mixotrophs.
C) are heterotrophic protists that decompose dead plants and animals in freshwater
habitats.
D) include the malaria parasite.
If you consume 1 g of each of the following, which will yield the most ATP?
A) fat
B) glucose
C) protein
D) starch
Pica is a disorder that is characterized by a desire to consume dirt or clay, both of which
contain iron. Pica can be associated with an iron deficiency that may cause
A) muscle cramps.
B) tooth decay.
C) anemia.
D) paralysis.
Imagine that blood did not contain any dissolved proteins. What would likely happen
when this abnormal blood flows through a capillary bed?
A) Nearly all of the fluid in the blood would move out of the capillaries.
B) None of the fluid in the blood would move out of the capillaries.
C) Some of the proteins in the interstitial fluid would flow into the capillaries.
D) The blood would flow normally through the capillaries.
What is the normal complement of sex chromosomes in a human male?
A) two Y chromosomes
B) two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome
C) one X chromosome and one Y chromosome
D) one Y chromosome
Which of the following environmental factors usually has the greatest direct effect on
an organism’s rate of water loss by evaporation?
A) soil type
B) wind
C) fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes
D) barometric pressure
Which of the following processes produces the most ATP per molecule of glucose
oxidized?
A) aerobic respiration
B) alcoholic fermentation
C) lactic acid fermentation
D) All produce approximately the same amount of ATP per molecule of glucose.
Photosynthetic organisms derive their carbon from
A) carbon monoxide.
B) carbon dioxide.
C) hydrocarbons.
D) methane.
A demographic tool used to predict a population’s future growth is
A) a Type III survivorship curve.
B) a demographic transition.
C) age structures.
D) a Type I survivorship curve.
The most common type of connective tissue in the human body is
A) fibrous connective tissue.
B) adipose tissue.
C) loose connective tissue.
D) bone.
The duck-billed platypus and other monotremes differ from other mammals in that they
A) are aquatic.
B) lay eggs.
C) have mammary glands.
D) have hair.
There is a mutation in the operator of the lac operon in a cell such that the lac repressor
always stays bound to the operator. If lactose is added to the cell, what will happen?
A) Lactose will bind to the repressor, and lac enzymes will be produced.
B) Lactose will bind to the repressor, and lac enzymes will not be produced.
C) Lactose will not bind to the repressor, and lac enzymes will be produced.
D) Lactose will bind to the operator, and lac enzymes will be produced.
Cyanide inhibits mitochondrial function; as a result, the rate of
A) ATP synthesis increases.
B) ATP synthesis decreases.
C) photosynthesis increases.
D) protein synthesis increases.