Inheritance and Evolution questions

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Inheritance and Evolution question collection

Review Inheritance and Evolution questions for Biology, with correct answers shown and coverage across DNA, genes and alleles; genetic crosses and inheritance; variation and mutation.

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Question 1

What is meant by the genome of an organism?
  1. Its entire genetic material
  2. All proteins made by one cell
  3. The genes on one chromosome
  4. All traits caused only by environment

Question 2

Which molecule carries genetic information in most organisms?
  1. DNA
  2. Glycogen
  3. Haemoglobin
  4. Cellulose

Question 3

What is a gene?
  1. A section of DNA that codes for a sequence of amino acids
  2. A whole chromosome
  3. A type of cell organelle
  4. A process that occurs during respiration

Question 4

Most human body cells contain how many chromosomes?
  1. 46
  2. 23
  3. 92
  4. 44

Question 5

Which description fits a human gamete?
  1. A haploid cell with 23 chromosomes
  2. A diploid cell with 46 chromosomes
  3. A haploid cell with 46 chromosomes
  4. A diploid cell with 23 chromosomes

Question 6

Why are asexually produced offspring usually clones?
  1. One parent divides without gamete fusion
  2. Two parents contribute identical gametes
  3. One parent supplies two different gametes
  4. Two parents contribute half a genome each

Question 7

Two Aa parents cross. What is the chance of aa offspring?
  1. 25%
  2. 0%
  3. 50%
  4. 75%

Question 8

In humans, which combination usually gives a male biological sex?
  1. XY
  2. XX
  3. YY
  4. XO

Question 9

What is selective breeding?
  1. Choosing parents so offspring inherit desired traits
  2. Changing genes directly in a laboratory
  3. Cloning an adult using embryo transfer
  4. Allowing only natural selection with no human choice

Question 10

What is a genetic risk of selective breeding?
  1. Harmful recessive alleles meet more often
  2. Useful alleles disappear from every offspring
  3. New alleles form more often
  4. Chromosome number rises each generation

Question 11

What does genetic engineering involve?
  1. Inserting a gene from one organism into another organism's DNA
  2. Crossing two organisms naturally to mix all genes
  3. Growing only cloned plants from cuttings
  4. Using fertilisers to change inherited characteristics

Question 12

Which trait can genetic engineering add to a crop?
  1. Resistance to a particular pest
  2. Tolerance of every growing condition
  3. Freedom from cellular respiration
  4. Inheritance without any DNA

Question 13

What drives natural selection?
  1. Better-adapted individuals reproduce more
  2. Individuals choose useful alleles
  3. Populations acquire identical mutations
  4. Environmental change alters every organism's genes

Question 14

How does antibiotic resistance evolve in bacteria?
  1. Bacteria that are already resistant survive and reproduce
  2. The antibiotic makes every bacterium resistant
  3. Bacteria choose to become resistant
  4. The antibiotic selects susceptible bacteria to reproduce

Question 15

What do fossils provide evidence for?
  1. How organisms and species have changed over time
  2. Exact DNA sequences of all extinct organisms
  3. Daily weather in ancient ecosystems
  4. Future mutations in current species

Question 16

What is an allele?
  1. A version of a gene
  2. A whole chromosome
  3. A type of cell division
  4. A habitat

Question 17

What is genotype?
  1. An organism’s combination of alleles
  2. An organism’s observable characteristics
  3. An organism’s environment
  4. A change in an organism’s DNA

Question 18

What is phenotype?
  1. The observable characteristics of an organism
  2. Its DNA sequence
  3. A type of gamete
  4. The number of chromosomes

Question 19

What does homozygous mean?
  1. Having two identical alleles for a gene
  2. Having two different alleles for a gene
  3. Having one copy of a gene
  4. Having no chromosomes

Question 20

What does heterozygous mean?
  1. Having two different alleles for a gene
  2. Having two identical alleles for a gene
  3. Having one copy of a gene
  4. Having no chromosomes

Question 21

What is meiosis used for?
  1. Producing gametes with half the chromosome number
  2. Making two identical body cells
  3. Releasing energy from glucose
  4. Making antibodies

Question 22

Why can mutations cause variation?
  1. They can create new alleles
  2. They remove variation from a population
  3. They make every allele identical
  4. They prevent natural selection

Question 23

Who established key inheritance principles using pea plants?
  1. Gregor Mendel
  2. Charles Darwin
  3. Alexander Fleming
  4. Louis Pasteur

Question 24

What is speciation?
  1. Formation of species that can no longer interbreed
  2. A change to one organism during its lifetime
  3. Cell division by mitosis
  4. A mutation in a body cell

Question 25

Who devised the system grouping organisms into kingdom, phylum and class?
  1. Linnaeus
  2. Darwin
  3. Mendel
  4. Woese

Question 26

Which cloning method grows small groups of cells on agar?
  1. Tissue culture
  2. Embryo transplant
  3. Adult cell cloning
  4. Taking cuttings

Question 27

In DNA, which base always pairs with cytosine?
  1. Guanine
  2. Adenine
  3. Thymine
  4. Uracil

Question 28

Besides fossils, which is evidence for evolution?
  1. Antibiotic resistance
  2. The rock cycle
  3. Continental drift
  4. Seasonal migration

Question 29

Which of these can cause a species to become extinct?
  1. A new disease
  2. A stable climate
  3. Plentiful food
  4. Few predators

Question 30

What can the age of stone tools tell scientists?
  1. When human ancestors lived
  2. What colour their skin was
  3. How many children they had
  4. What language they spoke

Question 31

Cystic fibrosis is caused by which kind of allele?
  1. A recessive allele
  2. A dominant allele
  3. A sex-linked allele
  4. A codominant allele

Question 32

What does the pentadactyl limb suggest about different vertebrates?
  1. They share a common ancestor
  2. They live in one habitat
  3. They eat the same food
  4. They are one species

Question 33

Which is an advantage of asexual reproduction?
  1. Only one parent is needed
  2. It produces more variation
  3. It always needs two gametes
  4. It gives stronger offspring

Question 34

What did Lamarck propose that Darwin did not?
  1. Acquired traits are inherited
  2. Species change over time
  3. Offspring show variation
  4. Organisms compete to survive

Question 35

How many DNA bases code for one amino acid?
  1. Three
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Four

Question 36

Which human feature is controlled by many genes together?
  1. Height
  2. Blood group
  3. Colour blindness
  4. Cystic fibrosis

Question 37

How can knowing a person’s genome help medicine?
  1. It can predict disease risk
  2. It can cure any disease
  3. It removes the need for drugs
  4. It replaces a diagnosis

Question 38

A person has blood group AB. What does this show?
  1. Both alleles are expressed
  2. One allele is dominant
  3. Both alleles are recessive
  4. Only one allele is present

Question 39

Why does red-green colour blindness affect more males than females?
  1. Males have one X chromosome
  2. Males have two X chromosomes
  3. The allele sits on the Y
  4. The allele is dominant

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Review Inheritance and Evolution questions for Biology, with correct answers shown and coverage across DNA, genes and alleles; genetic crosses and inheritance; variation and mutation.

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