Which of the following shows a brain structure correctly paired with one of its primary
functions?
A) frontal lobe decision making
B) occipital lobe control of skeletal muscles
C) temporal lobe visual processing
D) occipital lobe speech production
C.elegans is a model organism and was the first eukaryotic organism to have its genome
sequenced. The free-living nematode is often used in laboratories investigating nervous
system development with all 302 of its neurons and their effectors categorized.
Interesting control mechanisms have been investigated with reproduction, particularly
with egg-laying in the nematode. There are 16 muscles, 2 types of neurons, and
multiple receptors involved in the process of laying eggs in C.elegans, and there are
mutations in all of those structures for the study of the process. One particular mutation
that prevents the laying of eggs by the worm is rescued by the neurotransmitter,
serotonin. That rescue suggests that the mutation is most likely in which of the
following?
A) a post-synaptic neuron involved in egg-laying
B) a pre-synaptic neuron involved in egg-laying
C) a receptor for serotonin on cells needed for egg-laying
D) one of the muscles needed for egg-laying
The pedigree in the figure above shows the transmission of a trait in a particular family.
Based on this pattern of transmission, the trait is most likely _____.
A) mitochondrial
B) sex-linked dominant
C) sex-linked recessive
D) autosomal dominant
Which component is a glycolipid?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) E
Biological rhythms in animals isolated from light and dark cues _____.
A) continue to have cycles of exactly twenty-four hours’ duration
B) continue to have cycles of approximately twenty-four hours duration; some more
rapid, some slower
C) synchronize activity with whatever lighting cycle is imposed on them
D) cease having any rhythms
Which of the following is the most direct threat to biodiversity?
A) increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide
B) the depletion of the ozone layer
C) overexploitation of selected species
D) habitat destruction
Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) and one-seeded juniper (J.
monosperma) have overlapping ranges. Pollen grains (which contain sperm cells) from
one species are unable to germinate and make pollen tubes on female ovules (which
contain egg cells) of the other species. These two juniper species are kept separate by
_____.
A) habitat isolation
B) temporal isolation
C) gametic isolation
D) behavioral isolation
Which of the following types of cells utilize deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as their
genetic material but do not have their DNA encased within a nuclear envelope?
A) animal
B) plant
C) archaean
D) fungi
I. II.
III. IV.
Which tree depicts the microsporidians as a sister group of the fungi, rather than as a
fungus?
A) I
B) II
C) III
D) IV
In the cross AaBbCc x AaBbCc, what is the probability of producing the genotype
AABBCC?
A) 1/4
B) 1/8
C) 1/16
D) 1/64
At the time of fertilization, the maturation of the human oogonium has resulted in
_____.
A) one secondary oocyte
B) two primary oocytes
C) four secondary oocytes
D) four zygotes
When pathogenic fungi are found growing on the roots of grape vines, grape farmers
sometimes respond by covering the ground around their vines with plastic sheeting and
pumping a gaseous fungicide into the soil. The most important concern of grape farmers
who engage in this practice should be that the _____.
A) fungicide might also kill the native yeasts residing on the surfaces of the grapes
B) lichens growing on the vines’ branches are not harmed
C) fungicide might also kill mycorrhizae
D) sheeting is transparent so that photosynthesis can continue
What is the role of DNA ligase in the elongation of the lagging strand during DNA
replication?
A) It synthesizes RNA nucleotides to make a primer.
B) It joins Okazaki fragments together.
C) It unwinds the parental double helix.
D) It stabilizes the unwound parental DNA.
The fru gene in fruit flies _____.
I) controls sex-specific development in the fruit fly
II) is a master regulatory gene that directs expression of many other genes
III) can be genetically manipulated in females so that they will perform male sex
behaviors
IV) programs males for appropriate courtship behaviors
A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only II, III, and IV
D) I, II, III, and IV
The following questions refer to the pedigree chart in the figure below for a family,
some of whose members exhibit the dominant trait, W. Affected individuals are
indicated by a dark square or circle.
What is the likelihood that the progeny of IV-3 and IV-4 will have the trait?
A) 0%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%
A plantlike organism on the planet Pandora can have three recessive genetic traits:
bluish leaves, due to an allele (a) of gene A; a feathered stem, due to an allele (b) of
gene B; and hollow roots due to an allele (c) of gene C. The three genes are linked and
recombine as follows:
A geneticist did a testcross with an organism that had been found to be heterozygous for
the three recessive traits and she was able to identify progeny of the following
phenotypic distribution (+ = wild type):
Which of the following are the phenotypes of the parents in this cross?
A) 2 and 5
B) 1 and 6
C) 4 and 8
D) 3 and 7
You observe the gametes of a fungal species under the microscope and realize that they
resemble animal sperm. To which of the following group does the fungus belong?
A) Chytrids
B) Zygomycetes
C) Basidiomycota
D) Ascomycota
White-crowned sparrows can only learn the “crystallized” song for their species by
_____.
A) listening to adult sparrow songs during a sensitive period as a fledgling, followed by
a practice period until the juvenile matches its melody to its memorized fledgling song
B) listening to the song of its own species during a critical period so that it will imprint
to its own species song and not the songs of other songbird species
C) performing the crystallized song as adults when they become sexually mature, as the
song is programmed into the innate behavior for the species
D) observing and practicing after receiving social confirmation from other adults at a
critical period during their first episode of courtship behavior
One of two major forms of a human condition called neurofibromatosis (NF 1) is
inherited as a dominant gene, although it may range from mildly to very severely
expressed. Which of the following is the best explanation for why a young, affected
child is the first in her family to be diagnosed?
A) The mother carries the gene but does not express it.
B) One of the parents has a mild expression of the gene.
C) The condition skipped a generation in the family.
D) The child has one more chromosome than either of the parents.
The divisions of the nervous system that have antagonistic, or opposing, actions are
_____.
A) motor and sensory systems
B) sympathetic and parasympathetic systems
C) presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes
D) central nervous system and peripheral nervous system
Among the following choices, which organism likely has the highest systolic pressure?
A) mouse
B) human
C) hippopotamus
D) giraffe
If the half-life of carbon-14 is about 5730 years, then a fossil that has one-sixteenth the
normal proportion of carbon-14 to carbon-12 should be about how many years old?
A) 2800
B) 11,200
C) 16,800
D) 22,900
Hormones secreted by the posterior pituitary gland are made in the _____.
A) cerebrum
B) cerebellum
C) thalamus
D) hypothalamus
If you were to jog one kilometer a few hours after lunch, which stored fuel would you
probably tap?
A) muscle proteins
B) liver glycogen and muscle glycogen
C) fat stored in adipose tissue
D) blood proteins
An early consequence of the release of oxygen gas by plant and bacterial
photosynthesis was to _____.
A) change the atmosphere from oxidizing to reducing
B) make it easier to maintain reduced molecules
C) cause iron in ocean water and terrestrial rocks to rust (oxidize)
D) prevent the formation of an ozone layer
Which of the following most accurately describes selective permeability?
A) An input of energy is required for transport.
B) Lipid-soluble molecules pass through a membrane.
C) There must be a concentration gradient for molecules to pass through a membrane.
D) Only certain molecules can cross a cell membrane.
Which of the following trees, if any, depicts the same relationship among species as
shown above?
A)
B)
C)
A particular triplet of bases in the template strand of DNA is 5′ AGT 3′. The
corresponding codon for the mRNA transcribed is _____.
A) UCA
B) UGA
C) TCA
D) ACU
A cage containing male mosquitoes has a small earphone placed on top, through which
the sound of a female mosquito is played. All the males immediately fly to the earphone
and go through all of the steps of copulation. What is the best explanation for this
behavior?
A) Copulation is a fixed action pattern, and the female flight sound is a sign stimulus
that initiates it.
B) The sound from the earphone irritates the male mosquitoes, causing them to attempt
to sting it.
C) The reproductive drive is so strong that when males are deprived of females, they
will attempt to mate with anything that has even the slightest female characteristic.
D) Through classical conditioning, the male mosquitoes have associated the
inappropriate stimulus from the earphone with the normal response of copulation.
Which of the following studies would shed light on the mechanism of spread of H5N1
virus from Asia?
A) Perform cloacal or saliva smears of migrating waterfowl to monitor whether any
infected birds show up in Alaska.
B) Test fecal samples for H5N1 in Asian waterfowl that live near domestic poultry
farms in Asia.
C) Test for the presence of H5N1 in poultry used for human consumption worldwide.
D) Locate and destroy birds infected with H5N1 in Asian open-air poultry markets.
The embryonic precursor to the human spinal cord is the _____.
A) notochord
B) neural tube
C) mesoderm
D) archenteron
For several decades now, amphibian species worldwide have been in decline. A
significant proportion of the decline seems to be due to the spread of the chytrid fungus,
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Chytrid sporangia reside within the epidermal
cells of infected animals, animals that consequently show areas of sloughed skin. They
can also be lethargic, which is expressed through failure to hide and failure to flee. The
infection cycle typically takes four to five days, at the end of which zoospores are
released from sporangia into the environment. In some amphibian species, mortality
rates approach 100%; other species seem able to survive the infection.
Apart from direct amphibian-to-amphibian contact, what is the most likely means by
which the zoospores spread from one free-living amphibian to another?
A) by wind-blown spores
B) by flagella
C) by cilia
D) by hyphae