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

How is DNA best described?
  1. As a polymer made from nucleotide units
  2. As a lipid that stores long-term energy
  3. As a protein that catalyses respiration
  4. As a carbohydrate in cell walls

Question 3

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

Question 4

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 5

How can two alleles of a gene produce different phenotypes?
  1. Coding for proteins with different effects
  2. Containing different numbers of chromosomes
  3. Changing the organism's chromosome number
  4. Being translated in different cell organelles

Question 6

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

Question 7

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 8

Why does sexual reproduction produce genetic variation?
  1. Gametes combine alleles from two parents
  2. Mitosis combines alleles from two parents
  3. Each gamete receives every parental allele
  4. Fertilisation removes recessive alleles

Question 9

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 10

When is a dominant allele expressed in the phenotype?
  1. When one or two copies are present
  2. Only when two copies are present
  3. Only when no recessive allele exists
  4. When it occurs on the Y chromosome

Question 11

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

Question 12

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

Question 13

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 14

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 15

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 16

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 17

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 18

How does antibiotic resistance evolve in bacteria?
  1. Mutation creates resistance; treatment selects survivors
  2. Treatment creates resistance in every bacterium
  3. Bacteria choose resistance before treatment
  4. Treatment selects susceptible bacteria to reproduce

Question 19

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 20

How can geographical isolation lead to speciation?
  1. Different selection pressures cause genetic divergence
  2. Identical selection pressures remove genetic differences
  3. Isolation stops mutation in both populations
  4. Isolation makes both populations reproduce together

Question 21

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

Question 22

What is genotype?
  1. The alleles an organism has
  2. The observable characteristics
  3. The environment an organism lives in
  4. A type of mutation

Question 23

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 24

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 25

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 26

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 27

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 28

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

Question 29

Why are bacteria genetically engineered with the human insulin gene?
  1. To produce human insulin
  2. To digest insulin in blood
  3. To make human antibodies
  4. To increase human glucose levels

Question 30

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

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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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