Deck 4: Inheritance, Genes, and Physical Characteristics

Question 1

Malaria is a genetic disease common in Africa.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Why did Dr. Allison think there might be a relationship between sickle cell and malaria?

A) In areas where sickle cell was common, malaria was also common.
B) People with malaria were also likely to have sickle cell disease.
C) Mosquitoes are associated with both diseases.
D) In areas where sickle cell was common, malaria was uncommon.
E) People weakened by malaria were more likely to develop sickle cell disease.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

What did Dr. Allison discover about the relationship between the sickle cell trait and malaria?

A) Malaria causes the sickle cell trait to develop.
B) The sickle-cell trait causes malaria.
C) People with malaria are resistant to the sickle cell disease.
D) People with the sickle cell trait are resistant to malaria.
E) Mosquitoes cause both malaria and sickle cell.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Sickle cell disease is an inherited trait so there is a gene for sickle cell and if you inherit it, you get the full-blown disease. True or False?

Question 5

What causes the symptoms of sickle cell disease?

A) Abnormal hemoglobin in the red blood cells
B) Mosquitoes
C) A mutation in the red blood cells
D) Shortness of breath
E) Malaria

Question 6

One symptom of sickle cell disease is anemia which causes shortness of breath, among other things. How does sickle cell disease cause shortness of breath?

A) The deformed red blood cells cannot carry sufficient oxygen through the body so the person has to breathe harder, trying to get more oxygen.
B) The disease is frightening, causing stress and harder breathing.
C) Muscles cannot effectively absorb the deformed red blood cells, so the person has to breathe harder, trying to get more oxygen.
D) The lungs do not efficiently take up the deformed red blood cells, so the person has to breathe harder, trying to get more oxygen.
E) Sickle cell disease kills off red blood cells, so the body does not receive sufficient oxygen and the person must breath harder.

Question 7

In the United States, sickle cell disease is seen most often in African Americans. Why is this?

A) African Americans are more likely to have had malaria.
B) African Americans are more prone to genetic diseases in general.
C) African Americans are more likely to be descendants of people who lived where malaria was prevalent, so the sickle cell mutation gave them an advantage and was passed on more frequently.
D) African Americans are more likely to be descendants of people who lived in an environment that caused the sickle cell mutation, giving them an advantage that was passed on more frequently.
E) African Americans are more likely to be descendants of people who were more attractive to mosquitoes, so the sickle cell mutation gave them an advantage.

Question 8

How can you be a "carrier" of sickle cell disease?

A) If you are infected by someone who has sickle cell disease, but your immune system mostly fights it off, you will be a carrier.
B) If you inherit the hemoglobin HbS allele from both your parents, you will be a carrier.
C) If you inherit the hemoglobin HbS allele from one of your parents, you will be a carrier.
D) If you come into contact with someone with sickle cell disease but you are not actually infected, you will be a carrier.
E) If you inherit the hemoglobin HbA from both your parents, you will be a carrier.

Question 9

Linus Pauling was interested in studying sickle cell disease at the molecular level. In examining the hemoglobin proteins associated with healthy people and those with sickle cell disease (HbA and HbS), he discovered that:

A) The proteins were chemically identical, but HbS forms long filaments under low oxygen conditions, which deform red blood cells.
B) The proteins were chemically different, and HbS forms long filaments under low oxygen conditions, which deform the red blood cells.
C) The proteins were chemically inert except under conditions of low oxygen.
D) It was not possible to distinguish the disease related protein at the molecular level.
E) Both proteins formed long filaments under low oxygen conditions, but only HbS resulted in deformed red blood cells.

Question 10

Linus Pauling figured out that the type of hemoglobin protein in a person was an inherited trait. Why was this important?

A) It was not known that there were different types of hemoglobin, and some caused disease.
B) It meant that genes were inherited, which was unknown at the time.
C) It meant that genes, which are inherited, must be what determine protein structure. At the time, no one knew what genes were made of or did.
D) It actually wasn't important because, as it turned out, he was unable to determine the precise differences between hemoglobin molecules.
E) It established Linus Pauling as the "Father of Molecular Medicine" as this was the first time anybody used molecular medicine in developing disease treatments.

Question 11

Proteins are composed of many subunits called amino acids, which are hooked together in a particular sequence. A change of even one small amino acid may result in a dramatically changed, possibly dysfunctional protein.

Question 12

Linus Pauling is considered the "Father of Molecular Medicine." Why?

A) He was the first person to use molecular medicine to treat a disease.
B) He was the first person to call a treatment "Molecular Medicine."
C) He was the first person to realize that disease involved molecules.
D) He was the first person to realize that diseases could be caused by mosquitoes changing protein structure.
E) He was the first person to realize that diseases could be caused by changes in the molecular structure of a protein.

Question 13

Until recently, people haven't been able to do anything to control inherited characteristics from one generation to the next. True or false?

A) True. We didn't know about DNA, so there was no way to try and alter the traits caused by DNA.
B) False. For centuries, farmers have been adjusting the traits of their animals and crops through selective breeding.
C) True. We are still unable to do anything to change inherited traits, so we couldn't have done it previously.
D) False. Scientists have been able to alter DNA in the lab for a long time.
E) True. Farmers have been trying to improve characteristics of their organisms from one generation to the next, but it's never worked.

Question 14

What is meant by "pangenesis?"

A) It's an old explanation of heredity in which the "seeds" of the parents body parts are combined at mating, thus resulting in offspring that have a mixture of the parent's traits.
B) It's the method by which farmers combine desirable traits in agricultural crops and animals.
C) It's the theory that all the organisms on Earth were created by a divine being.
D) It's an explanation of heredity dating back to ancient Greece that says that combining crops in one field will result in crossbreeding and offspring with traits of both parent crops.
E) It's an old explanation of inheritance in which repeatedly used traits get enhanced in subsequent generations.

Question 15

How did August Weismann's mice disprove the idea of pangenesis?

A) Parent mice without tails produced offspring without tails.
B) Mouse offspring looked exactly like their parents.
C) Parent mice without tails produced offspring with normal tails.
D) It was shown to be impossible to grow mice from seeds.
E) Short tailed mice produced long tailed offspring.

Question 16

Which of the following is an example of how farmers typically use genetics and heredity?

A) Breeding fast horses to each other to produce fast offspring.
B) Breeding high-yield corn plants together to produce higher yields.
C) Cross-breeding drought resistant and disease resistant wheat varieties to produce one type that can resist both.
D) Only allowing the cows that produce the most milk to also produce offspring.
E) All of the above
4)4

Question 17

Mendel carried out monohybrid crosses with his peas. What does that mean?

A) He planted each generation of peas in a cross-like formation so they could easily cross-fertilize.
B) The peas only had one trait.
C) The parent generation was crossbred or hybridized.
D) He was only looking at a single trait at a time in each experiment.
E) The alleles in the peas each determined multiple traits.

Question 18

Traits are sometimes said to "skip a generation." How does this happen according to Mendel's experiments?

A) If an allele determining a trait is dominant, recessive alleles from either parent can mask it, like when Mendel's first generation of flowers from a white and purple parent where all purple.
B) If an allele determining a trait is recessive, dominant alleles from either parent can mask it, like when Mendel's first generation of flowers from a white and purple parent were all purple.
C) If an allele determining a trait is recessive, it sometimes just doesn't show up, regardless of what traits the parents have, like when Mendel only got purple flowers in the first generation.
D) Sometimes mutations allow a new trait to mask a recessive trait for one generation. Mendel found this to be the case in his second generation where he got both purple and white flowers.
E) Sometimes a recessive allele is only advantageous after several generations and so doesn't show up until then. Mendel saw this in the white flowers being produced by a cross between purple and white parents.

Question 19

(application)
According to Mendel's Rules, a person who is a carrier of sickle cell disease produces the following gametes during meiosis.

A) If you carry sickle cell disease, you can't produce gametes.
B) 50% HbA (normal), 50% HbS (sickle cell)
C) 100% HbS (sickle cell)
D) 75% HbA (normal), 25% HbS (sickle cell)
E) Mendel didn't know enough about genes or gametes to determine this.

Question 20

Mendel found that tall pea plants are genetically dominant over short pea plants. This means that

A) Tall pea plants produce many more peas than short pea plants.
B) Even if a pea plant contains just the genes for shortness, it still might be tall.
C) A tall pea plant will overpower and kill off a short pea plant next to it.
D) If you breed two tall pea plants, it's impossible to produce a short pea plant.
E) If a plant contains a tall and a short gene, the plant will be tall.

Question 21

What are the chances that a carrier of sickle cell and a healthy person will have a child who has sickle cell?

A) 50%
B) 100%
C) 0%
D) 25%
E) There's no way to predict.

Question 22

People with one sickle cell HbS allele and one normal HbA allele are considered "carriers." What does this tell you about the dominant-recessive relationship between these two alleles?

A) The sickle cell allele is dominant.
B) The sickle cell is recessive.
C) The normal allele is dominant.
D) The normal allele is recessive.
E) Neither allele is completely dominant.

Question 23

If both parents have brown hair because both carry two alleles for brown hair, their children will also have brown hair, but it might be a different shade of brown than either parent. Why is this? Isn't brown brown?

A) The effect of an allele changes depending how old the parents are.
B) People's hair often gets darker as they get older.
C) Several different genes are involved in hair color, and those might differ between the parents and therefore their children.
D) Traits tend to vary quite a bit between siblings and parents, so it's unlikely their hair color would be identical.
E) What one person describes as "brown" might not be exactly the same as what another person says is "brown."

Question 24

Carriers of sickle cell are resistant to malaria, and carriers of cystic fibrosis are resistant to cholera. Both are the result of single gene mutations. Why is more than a single trait affected?

A) Genes for one trait can interact with and influence other traits as well.
B) Sickle cell and cystic fibrosis are caused by the same alleles.
C) Most genetic diseases are bad but have good characteristics, too.
D) Sickle cell disease is known to be related to intestinal diseases.
E) Malaria is also an infectious intestinal disease.

Question 25

Your genes partly determine your physical characteristics, but the environment you live in also plays a role.

A) True---Some genes can be altered by environmental features.
B) False---Your genes completely determine your physical characteristics.
C) Scientists aren't sure what determines an individual's characteristics.
D) False---The environment plays no role.
E) True---In fact the environment always alters genetic characteristics.

Question 26

Why don't Mendel's rules entirely explain heredity patterns?

A) Genes can have random effects.
B) No two alleles work the same way.
C) Gene interaction and the environment can alter the patterns.
D) There are many more genes in humans than in peas.
E) Plant genetics work differently than human genetics.

Question 27

Choose the correct sequence starting with the smallest unit:

A) DNA, gene, allele, chromosome, nucleotide
B) Chromosome, gene, allele, nucleotide, DNA
C) Gene, nucleotide, allele, DNA, chromosome
D) Nucleotide, allele, gene, DNA, chromosome
E) Nucleotides, DNA, allele, gene, chromosome

Question 28

A DNA molecule is described as a "double helix." What does that mean?

A) DNA molecules come in pairs.
B) A DNA molecule is ladder-shaped and twice as wide as it is long.
C) A DNA molecule doubles every time a cell uses it.
D) A DNA molecule is ladder shaped and twisted.
E) A DNA molecule is shaped like a ladder crossing the cell nucleus.

Question 29

Complementary base pairing in DNA means that DNA is easy to copy. How does this work?

A) The base pairs that make up the center of the DNA molecule will only match with identical copies of themselves A:A, C:C, etc.
B) It doesn't work very well, so many mistakes are made when DNA gets copied as cells divide.
C) The base pairs that make up the center of the DNA molecule will only match up A with T or C with
D) The base pairs that make up the center of the DNA molecule match other DNA molecules perfectly.
E) DNA isn't very easy to copy, but there's no need to do that, so it doesn't matter. G.

Question 30

There are four bases in DNA: adenine, thymidine, guanine, and cytosine. How do they pair up?

A) A-T and G-C
B) A-G and T-C
C) T-G and A-C
D) G-A and C-T
E) It varies.
4)7

Question 31

Frederick Griffin experimented with two strains of bacteria by injecting them into mice in various combinations. He found that when you mix dead bacteria with live, it's possible for the live strain to acquire some of the traits of the dead one. Why was this important?

A) No one knew dead things could influence the traits of living things.
B) It showed that whatever determined the traits of one organism could somehow get into and alter the traits of another.
C) It showed that some bacteria caused pneumonia, possibly leading to a cure for the disease.
D) No one before had successfully used bacteria to infect mice with pneumonia.
E) It showed that dead strains of bacteria could be combined with live and would "revive" with new traits.

Question 32

Frederick Griffin demonstrated that the pneumonia-causing characteristics of the smooth bacteria were somehow transferred to the harmless rough bacteria in mice. These characteristics continued to appear in subsequent generations of the previously harmless rough bacteria. What did this show about the mechanism behind the change?

A) It was a highly stable mechanism, so it didn't change again over time.
B) The mechanism couldn't go in reverse (i.e., the bacteria couldn't become harmless once they were changed).
C) The mechanism was involved in heredity so the change was passed on.
D) This result didn't make any sense, so it doesn't say anything about the mechanism.
E) The smooth bacteria have a much stronger infecting mechanism than the rough do.

Question 33

In Griffin's experiments, scientists separated out the building blocks of a smooth bacteria cell: DNA, RNA, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats and then mixed each part separately with rough bacteria. What were they trying to figure out and what did they find?

A) Which part of the bacteria was capable of transforming traits of other bacteria? DNA.
B) Which part of bacteria was capable of transforming traits of other bacteria? Proteins.
C) Which part of bacteria was capable of transforming traits in other bacteria? All the parts worked.
D) Which part of bacteria was not capable of transforming traits in other bacteria? DNA.
E) Which part of bacteria could infect mice with pnuemonia? RNA.

Question 34

What is the substance that can transform the characteristics of bacteria?

A) The nucleus
B) The cytoplasm
C) The DNA
D) The ribosomes
E) The blood

Question 35

What are the three functions of the DNA molecule?

A) Replicate, correct mistakes, produce proteins
B) Replicate, mutate, build cells
C) Reproduce offspring, mutate, produce proteins
D) Replicate, mutate, produce proteins
E) Reproduce, correct mistakes, produce new DNA

Question 36

Scientists James Watson and Francis Crick determined the double helix structure of DNA. Why is that structure important in DNA replication?

A) Because DNA is double, it's already evenly split, so it ends up being the same in every replicated cell.
B) When the cell splits, the DNA is twisted together, so it doesn't easily come apart during replication.
C) When the DNA separates into two halves during replication, each half is a mirror image of the other, so the new halves fit right back together again in the new cell.
D) Because each base can only pair with a particular other base, even when the DNA splits, the bases will always match up the same way as it reforms.
E) The structure is like a ladder, so it's easy for new cellular material to "climb" the ladder to reform in a new cell.

Question 37

DNA replicates mostly accurately due to consistent base-pairing. What does that mean?

A) Every base in a paired DNA molecule is the same.
B) When the base of a DNA molecule lines up with the base of another, they are always consistent.
C) Base A always pairs with base C, and T with G, so accurate replication is easy.
D) Base A always pairs with base T, and C with G, so accurate replication is easy.
E) DNA actually mutates a lot, so replication isn't all that accurate.

Question 38

In a genetic disease like sickle cell, the difference between the normal hemoglobin, HbA, and the sickle cell hemoglobin, HbS, can be as minor as one different amino acid

Question 39

Sometimes there is a mistake made when DNA is copied. This is called a mutation. Which of the following is true about mutations.

A) A mutation is always a disaster because then the DNA doesn't work and the organism it's part of doesn't work.
B) A mutation is always a good thing because it creates diversity in organisms.
C) A mutation is sometimes good and sometimes bad, depending what the change means for how the DNA works.
D) A mutation is sometimes good and sometimes bad depending on whether it still allows for cell division.
E) A mutation never really makes any difference because DNA can repair itself.

Question 40

Mutations can be the result of environmental factors like exposure to X-rays or carcinogens.

Question 41

DNA functions as a sort of recipe for the proteins that make an organism what it is and make it work. It doesn't make proteins directly but directs a series of steps that result in proteins. Which sequence below correctly follows how this works?

A) DNA is translated into messenger RNA.
Transfer RNA produces the amino acids coded by the mRNA.
Ribosomal RNA holds together the mRNA and tRNA to connect the amino acids together. The amino acids are transcribed into the proteins specified by the original DNA.
B) DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA.
Transfer RNA produces the amino acids coded by the mRNA.
Ribosomal RNA holds together the mRNA and tRNA to connect the amino acids together. The amino acids are translated into the proteins specified by the original DNA.
C) DNA is transcribed by ribosomes into transfer RNA.
Transfer RNA produces the amino acids coded by the DNA.
Messenger RNA then holds together the amino acids. The amino acids are translated into proteins as specified by the original DNA.
D) DNA makes proteins directly by assembling pieces of messenger RNA together into amino acids.
E) DNA doesn't actually do anything directly, but RNA produces amino acids from protein codes.

Question 42

What is "the genetic code" actually a code for?

A) DNA
B) RNA
C) Cells
D) Chromosomes
E) Proteins

Question 43

DNA can code for a huge number of different amino acids used to make proteins. True or false, and why?

A) True. There are huge numbers of different amino acids required to run an organism.
B) True. Every protein requires different amino acids.
C) False. Amino acids don't make proteins.
D) False. There are only five different amino acids used to make all required proteins.
E) False. There are only 20 different amino acids used to make all required proteins.

Question 44

When one base in a DNA strand is replaced with another, what type of mutation is this?

A) Point mutation
B) Deletion
C) Duplication
D) Inversion
E) Translocation

Question 45

Amino acids linked together fold into shapes that are most chemically stable, so the proteins they make up have particular shapes. Why does this matter?

A) It actually doesn't matter because the body can fix its own proteins, so they can do their job.
B) If the proteins aren't the right shape, DNA can't translate them.
C) If the proteins aren't the right shape, they don't fit down blood vessels.
D) It actually doesn't matter because DNA will set up the proteins correctly regardless of the amino acids.
E) If the proteins aren't the right shape, they can't do their job properly.

Question 46

Sickle cell hemoglobin, HbS, doesn't have the same shape as normal hemoglobin, HbA, so it can't bind to the necessary four oxygen molecules. True or False?

Question 47

How does sickle cell hemoglobin result in oxygen deprivation to vital organs?

A) It carries oxygen in the blood normally, but once the oxygen is released, the misshapen HbS molecules tend to stick together into fibers, altering the shape of red blood cells such that they tend to clog, and blood (and therefore oxygen) flow is impaired.
B) It's missing the amino acid that carries one of the four oxygen molecules that normal HbA can carry, so the vital organs get one less oxygen molecule per red blood cell passing by.
C) It carries oxygen like normal HbA, but the fibers that it forms hold the oxygen in such a way that the red blood cells don't let it go and therefore oxygen flow is impaired.
D) Because of its weird shape, it can't carry oxygen at all and so oxygen flow is impaired.
E) It carries oxygen in the blood normally but the shape of the abnormal HbS results in fibers of oxygen rather than molecules and the organs can't absorb oxygen in this form.

Question 48

A change in DNA resulting in an incorrect protein is the problem in sickle cell disease. Is this normally the problem in genetic diseases?

A) No. Most genetic diseases result from errors in cell division.
B) No. In other genetic diseases, the proteins are all correctly made, but then they damage the DNA.
C) It's not clear what the problem is in most genetic diseases.
D) Yes, abnormal proteins created by abnormal DNA is the problem in all genetic diseases.
E) Yes, the DNA may be "correct" but can produce abnormal proteins which cause disease.

Question 49

A sickle cell allele is potentially fatal, yet it's not all bad. Why not?

A) Alleles always interact, so not all sickle cell genes are fatal. Some people live with the disease.
B) It isn't fatal if you have one just one sickle cell allele and in that case offers resistance to malaria.
C) It is all bad.
D) It isn't fatal if you have just one sickle cell allele and in that case offers resistance to lots of other diseases.
E) Scientists learn something about curing genetic diseases in general every time someone comes down with sickle cell disease.

Question 50

Who discovered the double helix (ladder) structure of DNA?

A) James Watson
B) James Watson and Francis Crick
C) James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins
D) James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin
E) Linus Pauling, James Watson, and Francis Crick

Question 51

How do scientists compare people's DNA?

A) Because scientists know what genes correspond to what physical traits, they can compare people's DNA by just comparing the traits they see.
B) Scientists collect the DNA and using an electron microscope, straighten out the strands from different people and compare them by looking at them.
C) Scientists collect the DNA, chop it up into pieces, and use chromatography to compare them. Different genes show up in different colored bands which can be compared person to person.
D) Scientists assemble a pedigree for the people they're comparing, and this allows them to compare their DNA.
E) Scientists collect the DNA, chop it up into pieces, and use electrophoresis to separate the genes according to their electrical charge. The genes show up in bands which can be compared person to person.

Question 52

Tay Sachs disease is the result of abnormal genes, much like sickle cell, and both can be identified with genetic screening. As a result of screening programs, Tay Sachs is now very rare in North America, but sickle cell is not. What's different between these cases?

A) Tay Sachs is worse, so people pay more attention to positive results if they are screened.
B) The Tay Sachs screening program started with good education and cultural sensitivity toward participants so people are more willing to be tested.
C) The sickle cell screening program started with good education and cultural sensitivity but health insurance didn't cover the tests.
D) Sickle cell alleles are much more common to start with, so it's been more difficult to eradicate the disease.
E) Sickle cell disease doesn't show up until much later in life than Tay Sachs.

Question 53

What is the reason for the name "sickle cell" disease?

Question 54

Sickle cell disease is the result of defective Hemoglobin proteins (HbS rather than the normal HbA). What causes HbS to appear in a person?

Question 55

Linus Pauling used electrophoresis to determine what was different in people with sickle cell disease. What did he find?

Question 56

A person can be a "carrier" of sickle cell but not have the disease. How is this possible?

Question 57

What does the idea of pangenesis explain?

Question 58

August Weismann removed tails of mice and then bred them to see if the offspring would have tails. What would the theory of pangenesis predict in this case?

Question 59

If pangenesis were how inheritance worked, and you crossed a white flower with a red flower, what color would the offspring be?

Question 60

In Mendel's initial experiment with peas, why doesn't the flower color white show up in the first generation (after the first cross of white with purple parents)?

Question 61

Two people get married and produce a child. One parent has full blown sickle cell disease and the other is a carrier. What is the chance the child will have full blown sickle cell disease?

Question 62

According to Mendel's experiments, an allele can be dominant or recessive. A pea plant carrying one tall and one short allele will be tall because tall is dominant. It won't be some medium height. For sickle cell though, normal HbA is dominant and sickle HbS is recessive, yet a person with both of these alleles will have a mild case of sickle cell. Was Mendel wrong? Explain?

Question 63

Why is it better to describe a gene as "used in eye color" rather than a gene "for eye color."

Question 64

The DNA molecule is described as a double helix or sort of a rotating ladder. What are the rungs of the ladder made of?

Question 65

Why is it easy for a DNA molecule split down the middle to reform in an exact replica of itself?

Question 66

What is it called when DNA from one organism alters DNA from another?

Question 67

Frederick Griffin combined dead pneumonia-causing "smooth" bacteria with live "rough" bacteria which did not cause pneumonia and injected this combination into mice. What happened and what did it show?

Question 68

Scientists separated out the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, DNA, and RNA from dead pnemonia-causing smooth bacteria and mixed each by itself with rough bacteria. Why did they do this and what did they find?

Question 69

Why is it important that DNA easily replicate?

Question 70

Mutations are not always random, natural events. Certain things can cause DNA damage. One of these things is__________________.

Question 71

In a protein, when one amino acid is replaced by another, the protein often can't do its job. What changes about the protein?

Question 72

In sickle cell disease, how does the shape of the red blood cells result in oxygen deprivation in the body?

Question 73

If you investigate and map out the family history of a particular trait, what have you produced?