The following questions are based on the observation that several dozen different
proteins comprise the prokaryotic flagellum and its attachment to the prokaryotic cell,
producing a highly complex structure.
If the complex protein assemblage of the prokaryotic flagellum arose by the same
general processes as those of the complex eyes of molluscs (such as squids and octopi),
then _____.
A) natural selection cannot account for the rise of the prokaryotic flagellum
B) ancestral versions of this protein assemblage were either less functional or had
different functions than modern prokaryotic flagella
C) neither eyes nor flagella could have arisen by evolution because both are too
complex to have evolved
D) the need for more complex structure must have driven evolution
Calculation, contemplation, and cognition are human activities associated with
increased activity in the _____.
A) hypothalamus
B) cerebrum
C) cerebellum
D) spinal cord
Environmental influences appear to contribute to cellular mutations that lead to tumor
growth. For example, certain diets lead to higher incidence of colon cancers, and
overexposure to sunlight leads to higher incidence of skin cancers. The tissues in closest
contact with a carcinogen or mutagen (anything that causes genetic mutations) are
obviously the ones most likely to develop tumors. Carcinomas and melanomas account
for well over half of all cancers. What type of tissue would you guess the term
carcinoma and melanoma is most closely associated with?
A) connective
B) muscle
C) epithelial
D) nervous
The following diagram is of a cross section of a plant leaf. Use the diagram to answer
the question(s) below.
The main function associated with structure Y is _____.
A) absorption of carbon dioxide
B) retention of water
C) collection of light
D) release of carbon dioxide
Which of the following statements are correct?
I) Hormones often regulate homeostasis through antagonistic functions.
II) Hormones of the same chemical class usually have the same function.
III) Hormones are secreted by specialized cells usually located in exocrine glands.
IV) Hormones are often regulated through feedback loops.
A) only II and III
B) only I and III
C) only III and IV
D) only I and IV
Which characteristic is shared by cnidarians and flatworms?
A) dorsoventrally flattened bodies
B) radial symmetry
C) a digestive system with a single opening
D) a distinct head
If meiosis produces haploid cells, how is the diploid number restored for those
organisms that spend most of their life cycle in the diploid state?
A) DNA replication
B) reverse transcription
C) synapsis
D) fertilization
The molecular formula for glucose is C6H12O6. What would be the molecular formula
for a molecule made by linking three glucose molecules together by dehydration
reactions?
A) C18H36O18
B) C18H32O16
C) C6H10O5
D) C18H30O15
A female fly, full of fertilized eggs, is swept by high winds to an island far out to sea.
She is the first fly to arrive on this island and the only fly to arrive in this way.
Thousands of years later, her numerous offspring occupy the island, but none of them
resembles her. There are, instead, several species, each of which eats only a certain type
of food. None of the species can fly and their balancing organs (halteres) are now used
in courtship displays. The male members of each species bear modified halteres that are
unique in appearance to their species. Females bear vestigial halteres. The ranges of all
of the daughter species overlap.
In each fly species, the entire body segment that gave rise to the original flight wings is
missing. The mutation(s) that led to the flightless condition could have _____.
A) duplicated all of the Hox genes in these flies’ genomes
B) resulted in paedomorphosis
C) altered the expression of a Hox gene
D) originated in another species
Prokaryotes are classified as belonging to two different domains. What are the
domains?
A) Bacteria and Eukarya
B) Bacteria and Archaea
C) Archaea and Protista
D) Bacteria and Protista
The brain reward system _____.
A) represents an emergent brain property that has arisen independent of natural
selection
B) is a reflex of the peripheral nervous primarily under autonomic control
C) is housed in the thalamus and primarily regulates the enteric division of the
autonomic nervous system
D) utilizes the neurotransmitter dopamine and is affected by drug addiction
Experiments on the positive phototropic response of plants indicate that_____.
A) light destroys auxin
B) auxin moves down the plant apoplastically
C) auxin is synthesized in the area where the stem bends
D) auxin can move to the shady side of the stem
This causes extremely high levels of toxic chemicals in fish-eating birds.
A) acid precipitation
B) biological magnification
C) greenhouse effect
D) eutrophication
Using retroviral vectors for gene therapy might increase the patient’s risk of developing
cancer because they might _____.
A) introduce proteins from the virus
B) not express the genes that were introduced into a patient’s cells
C) not integrate their recombinant DNA into the patient’s genome
D) integrate recombinant DNA into the genome in ways that misregulate the expression
of genes at or near the site of integration
Which of the following is true of the life cycle of mosses?
A) The haploid generation grows on the sporophyte generation.
B) Spores are primarily distributed by water currents.
C) Antheridia and archegonia are produced by gametophytes.
D) The sporophyte generation is dominant.
Where would you expect to find tight junctions?
A) in the epithelium of an animal’s stomach
B) between the smooth endoplasmic reticulum and the rough endoplasmic reticulum
C) between plant cells in a woody plant
D) in the plasma membrane of prokaryotes
Gene S controls the sharpness of spines in a type of cactus. Cactuses with the dominant
allele, S, have sharp spines, whereas homozygous recessive ss cactuses have dull
spines. At the same time, a second gene, N, determines whether or not cactuses have
spines. Homozygous recessive nn cactuses have no spines at all. The relationship
between genes S and N is an example of _____.
A) incomplete dominance
B) epistasis
C) pleiotropy
D) codominance
The term homoplasy is most applicable to which of the following features?
A) the legless condition found in various lineages of extant lizards
B) the five-digit condition of human hands and bat wings
C) the fur that covers Australian moles and North American moles
D) the bones of bat forelimbs and the bones of bird forelimbs
Correct and appropriate signal transduction processes are generally under strong
selective pressure and are determined by the properties of the molecules involved, the
concentrations of signal and receptor molecules, and the binding affinities between
signal and receptor. Therefore, a hormone action is very specific in a species at any one
point in time. However, there are examples of very diverse functions of a specific
hormone between groups of organisms. For example, thyroxin, which is produced in all
vertebrates and many invertebrates, can trigger growth, differentiation, metamorphosis,
maturation, reproduction, behavior, temperature tolerance, osmoregulation, or seasonal
adaptation depending on the organism in which it is produced. What is the most logical
explanation for such different responses triggered by thyroxin in organisms?
A) The concentration of thyroxin varies in different organisms. Invertebrate organisms
do not have as much thyroxin as vertebrate organisms.
B) Thyroxin and its receptor molecules have a different binding affinity in different
organisms.
C) Receptor molecules for thyroxin are located on different tissues in different
organisms.
D) The structure of thyroxin is substantially different in different organisms.
Which statement best describes what ultimately happens to the chemical energy that is
not converted to new biomass in the process of energy transfer between trophic levels in
an ecosystem?
A) It is undigested and winds up in the feces and is not passed on to higher trophic
levels.
B) It is used by organisms to maintain their life processes through the reactions of
cellular respiration.
C) Heat produced by cellular respiration is used by heterotrophs for thermoregulation.
D) It is eliminated as feces or is dissipated into space as heat, consistent with the second
law of thermodynamics.
House finches were found only in western North America until 1939, when a few
individuals were released in New York City. These individuals established a breeding
population and gradually expanded their range. The western population also expanded
its range somewhat eastward, and the two populations have recently come in contact. If
the two forms were unable to interbreed when their expanding ranges met, it would be
an example of _____.
A) prezygotic isolation
B) reinforcement
C) allopatric speciation
D) sympatric speciation
Which of the following examples of an ecological effect leading to an evolutionary
effect is most correct?
A) When seeds are not plentiful, trees produce more seeds.
B) A few individuals with denser fur survive the coldest days of an ice age, and the
reproducing survivors of the ice age will likely have more dense fur.
C) Fish that swim the fastest in running water catch the most prey and more easily
escape predation.
D) The insects that spend the most time exposed to sunlight have the most mutations.
Which of the following factors, when used to label the horizontal axis of the graph
above, would account most directly for the shape of the plot?
A) rate of cribrostatin synthesis (molecules/unit time)
B) number of pores per sponge
C) number of spicules per sponge
D) number of choanocytes per sponge
You are given four test tubes, each containing an unknown protist, and your task is to
read the following description and match these four protists to the correct test tube.
When light, especially red and blue light, is shone on the tubes, oxygen bubbles
accumulate on the inside of test tubes 1 and 2. Chemical analysis of test tube 1 indicates
the presence of a chemical that is toxic to fish and humans. Chemical analysis of test
tube 2 indicates the presence of substantial amounts of silica. Microscopic analysis of
organisms in test tubes 1, 3, and 4 reveals the presence of permanent,
membrane-bounded sacs just under the plasma membrane. Microscopic analysis of
organisms in test tube 3 reveals the presence of an apicoplast in each. Microscopic
analysis of the contents in test tube 4 reveals the presence of one large nucleus and one
small nucleus in each organism.
Test tube 3 contains _____.
A) Paramecium
B) Pfiesteria (dinoflagellate)
C) Entamoeba
D) Plasmodium
All arthropods _____.
1> undergo complete metamorphose
2> have jointed appendages
3> molt
4> have segmented bodies
5> have an exoskeleton or cuticle
A) 1, 2, and 4
B) 3 and 5
C) 2, 3, 4, 5
D) 1, 4, 5
Which of the following triggers the cell’s passage past the G2 checkpoint into mitosis?
A) PDGF
B) MPF
C) cyclin
D) Cdk
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder in homozygous recessives that causes death during
the teenage years. If 9 in 10,000 newborn babies have the disease, what are the
expected frequencies of the dominant (A1) and recessive (A2) alleles according to the
Hardy-Weinberg model?
A) f(A1) = 0.9997, f(A2) = 0.0003
B) f(A1) = 0.9800, f(A2) = 0.0200
C) f(A1) = 0.9700, f(A2) = 0.0300
D) f(A1) = 0.9604, f(A2) = 0.0392
The body tissue that consists largely of material located outside of cells is _____.
A) epithelial tissue
B) connective tissue
C) skeletal muscle
D) nervous tissue
Which nitrogenous waste has the greatest number of nitrogen atoms?
A) ammonia
B) ammonium ions
C) urea
D) uric acid
Materials are returned to the blood from the filtrate by which of the following
processes?
A) filtration
B) selective reabsorption
C) secretion
D) excretion
In a bacterium that possesses antibiotic resistance and the potential to persist through
very adverse conditions, such as freezing, drying, or high temperatures, DNA should be
located within, or be part of, which structures?
1. nucleoid region
2. endospore
3. fimbriae
4. plasmids
A) 1 and 2 only
B) 1 and 4 only
C) 2 and 4 only
D) 1, 2, and 4
Upon returning to its hive, a European honeybee communicates to other worker bees
the presence of a nearby food source it has discovered by _____.
A) vibrating its wings at varying frequencies
B) performing a round dance
C) performing a waggle dance
D) visual cues
Which of the following are characteristic of both rhizobia and mycorrhizae?
I) They both benefit by receiving sugars from the plant.
II) They both become parasitic in nutrient-rich environments.
III) They both enhance the growth of most plants.
IV) They both are found in most ecosystems of the world.
A) only I and II
B) only I, III, and IV
C) only III and IV
D) I, II, III, and IV
Which of the following showed their greatest diversity during the Mesozoic era, but
were a small, less diverse group during the Paleozoic era?
A) gymnosperms
B) fungi
C) flowering plants
D) mammals