Which of the following correctly lists the sequence of structures through which water
passes into a root?
A) guard cell, endodermis, cortex, xylem
B) root hair, cortex, xylem, endodermis
C) epidermis, cortex, endodermis, xylem
D) root hair, xylem, endodermis, phloem
A slimy layer of bacteria coating a surface is also known as a ________.
A) bioaggregate
B) tissue
C) biofilm
D) plague
The primary source of energy for hydrothermal vent communities is
A) the heat of the water emerging from the vents.
B) oxidation of petroleum compounds in the vent water.
C) oxidation of hydrogen sulfide in the vent water.
D) reduction of carbon dioxide in the vent water.
Which organ system removes nitrogen-containing waste products from blood?
A) lymphatic system
B) integumentary system
C) muscular system
D) urinary system
What is the likely origin of chloroplasts?
A) mitochondria that had a mutation for photosynthesis
B) photosynthetic prokaryotes that lived inside eukaryotic cells
C) prokaryotes with photosynthetic mitochondria
D) eukaryotes that engulfed photosynthetic fungi
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.
Blood clots are formed by platelets and the plasma protein
A) thrombin.
B) sealin.
C) hemophilin.
D) fibrinogen.
Xerostomia is the scientific name for “dry mouth.” Dry mouth can be a medical concern
because chronic dry mouth can lead to dental problems as well as problems tasting,
chewing, and swallowing. Dry mouth is likely due to an inadequate production of
________.
A) saliva
B) chyme
C) amylase
D) bile
The main function of the AV node is to
A) initiate the heartbeat.
B) set the rhythm of the heartbeat.
C) relay the signal for the heart to contract from the right ventricle to the right atrium.
D) relay a signal for the ventricles to contract.
According to this graph of the population growth of fur seals, in what year did the
population first reach its carrying capacity?
A) 1925
B) 1930
C) 1940
D) 1950
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, what is the vital capacity?
A) 1,200 mL
B) 2,800 mL
C) 4,600 mL
D) 5,800 mL
You are a medical student and are reviewing a case study about a past patient. The
patient was 4 feet 8 inches tall at age 38, was unable to have children, and had an
above-average intelligence. The patient also had an irregular number of chromosomes.
What diagnosis would you give the patient?
A) Turner syndrome
B) Down syndrome
C) Klinefelter syndrome
D) chronic myelogenous leukemia
Aortic stenosis is a disease in which the aortic valve (the semilunar valve between the
left ventricle and the aorta) narrows, resulting in increased left ventricular pressure and
reduced ejection volume (the amount of blood that the left ventricle ejects). What would
the pressure-volume graph for a patient with aortic stenosis look like compared to the
graph shown above for a healthy young adult?
A) taller and wider
B) taller and narrower
C) shorter and narrower
D) shorter and wide
When sarcomeres contract, they generate force (tension). However, the amount of force
generated depends on the sarcomere length and the amount of thick and thin filament
overlap. Below is a figure that details the forcegenerating properties of a single
sarcomere. This figure was modified from a scientific paper by Al Gordon and
colleagues from 1966 and is a classic illustration of the relationship between sarcomere
length and force.
At what point on the graph is the most tension generated?
A) point A
B) point B
C) point C
D) point E
The result of binding a signal molecule to its receptor is
A) production of a protein by the target cell, followed by death.
B) cell division.
C) signal transduction.
D) partitioning of the nucleus within the target cell.
Which of the following terms broadly describes any kind of interaction between two or
more animals?
A) competition
B) dominance hierarchy
C) foraging behavior
D) social behavior
If a person on a fad diet experiences muscle cramps, a physician would suspect that this
individual is likely suffering from a deficiency of
A) table salt.
B) iodine.
C) iron.
D) calcium.
One hypothesis explaining animals’ abilities to detect a magnetic field and use it to
navigate is that sensory cells detect electrical fluctuations influenced by Earth’s
magnetic field. Which of the following pieces of evidence, if it were true, would
support this hypothesis?
A) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate show an
increase in action potential firing when in the presence of electrical fluctuations.
B) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate show a
decrease in action potential firing when in the presence of electrical fluctuations.
C) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate show a
greater density of negative ions on the outside of its plasma membrane.
D) Sensory cells of an organism known to use magnetic fields to navigate produce
greater amounts of enzymes sensitive to electrical fluctuations.
The cells that produce hair made of protein contain a lot of ________, while the cells
that produce the oils that coat the hair contain a lot of ________.
A) smooth endoplasmic reticulum; lysosomes
B) rough endoplasmic reticulum; smooth endoplasmic reticulum
C) smooth endoplasmic reticulum; rough endoplasmic reticulum
D) microbodies; lysosomes
The reason the pronghorn antelope is not found outside North America is most likely
that
A) it has never dispersed beyond this region.
B) its nutritional requirements cannot be met outside this region.
C) there are too many pronghorn predators outside North America.
D) its temperature requirements are stringent and not met outside North America.
During cellular respiration, NADH
A) is chemically converted into ATP.
B) is reduced to form NAD+.
C) delivers its electron load to the first electron carrier molecule.
D) is the final electron acceptor.
________ appears to have been the first hominin to use stone tools.
A) Homo erectus
B) Homo habilis
C) Ardipithecus
D) Australopithecus
Most genetic disorders of humans are caused by
A) multiple alleles.
B) recessive alleles.
C) a mutation that occurs in the egg, sperm, or zygote.
D) dominant alleles.
The “halves” of an individual peanut, which represent its cotyledons, develop from the
fertilized zygote and are composed of
A) triploid endosperm cells.
B) haploid endosperm cells.
C) diploid embryo sporophyte cells.
D) diploid maternal sporophyte cells.
The age structure of the United States in 2010 shows
A) a broad base, suggesting a high birth rate.
B) a broad base, suggesting a low birth rate.
C) that a greater proportion of the population is elderly now than in earlier decades.
D) that the United States has not yet gone through a demographic transition.
Which of the following statements regarding a common cellular activity is false?
A) Cells respond to the environment.
B) Cells develop and maintain complex organization.
C) Cells regulate their internal environment.
D) New cells are derived from cellular components like organelles.
Unlike both smooth and skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle
A) has cells that contact one another.
B) has cells that are striated.
C) generally cannot be contracted at will.
D) has branched cells.
Animals directly evolved from
A) plants.
B) protists.
C) fungi.
D) bacteria.
In a hypothetical food chain consisting of grass, grasshoppers, sparrows, and hawks, the
grasshoppers are
A) primary consumers.
B) primary producers.
C) secondary consumers.
D) secondary producers.
The skin is the body’s largest organ. It’s made up of many different types of cells. Oils,
produced by the sebaceous glands, prevent the skin from drying and splitting. The
protein melanin, produced by melanocytes in the epidermis, protects the skin from the
harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. Sweat, released through ducts to the skin
surface, helps to cool the body. The types of cells that produce these compounds have
different numbers of specific organelles, depending on their function.
Based on their function, you would expect melanocytes in the skin to have a higher than
usual number of
A) lysosomes.
B) chloroplasts.
C) ribosomes.
D) microtubules.
The extracellular matrix attached to cells via glycoproteins may then bind to ________
in the plasma membrane.
A) dynein
B) collagen
C) integrins
D) polysaccharides
A single cell, the zygote, can develop into an entirely new organism with many different
specialized cells. Which of the following statements about this process is false?
A) Additional genetic information for the formation of specialized cells is passed on to
the developing embryo via the mother.
B) The descendant cells specialize by a process known as differentiation.
C) The zygote contains all of the genetic information required for the development of
many different cell types.
D) Differentiation of the zygote into a multicellular organism results from selective
gene expression.