Deck 41: Harnessing the Human Genome

Question 1

The field of genomics

A) is restricted to sequencing the genomes of prokaryotes.
B) compares genomes in a broad range of organisms.
C) produces genetically engineered medicines.
D) investigates molecular structure of DNA.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following statements about the use of genomic research is false?

A) It allows the study of gene activity in the context of a whole cell or whole organism.
B) All the participants in a signal cascade can be observed working together.
C) It is possible to detect all the genes that are turned on or off in response to a hormone signal.
D) It does not produce much data, so the information is easy to analyze.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In order to test for certain genetic diseases, _______ must be isolated from a patient's body tissue.

A) DNA
B) lipids
C) carbohydrates
D) ATP

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In normal humans, the sequence of part of the hemoglobin gene reads GACTC, but in individuals with sickle cell anemia, the same sequence reads GACAC. This is an example of

A) RFLP analysis.
B) an insertion mutation.
C) a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP).
D) a conserved gene.

Question 5

A doctor has a patient with high blood pressure. The doctor could use single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis to determine

A) whether the patient currently has high cholesterol.
B) what type of medication would most effectively treat this patient's condition.
C) how previously prescribed drugs have affected the patient's genome.
D) if the patient has recently had a heart attack.

Question 6

Which of the following is not a method for determining if an individual has a genetic disease?

A) test for an allele with a disease-causing mutation
B) examine the individuals physical fingerprints (those on their fingers)
C) test for chromosomal abnormalities
D) examine aspects of metabolism

Question 7

Which of the following statements is not a potential problem with testing for the presence of a breast cancer gene?

A) Other genes may affect the activity of a breast cancer gene.
B) A woman might be less careful about getting regular breast exams if she tests negative for a breast cancer gene.
C) Lives may be saved as a result of screening for breast cancer genes.
D) A woman might have her healthy breasts surgically removed if she tests positive for a breast cancer gene when the cancer might never have occurred.

Question 8

James Watson and Francis Crick

A) created artificial DNA in the laboratory.
B) discovered that DNA was the genetic material.
C) discovered the structure of DNA.
D) sequenced the genome of a nematode worm.

Question 9

Before attempting to sequence the human genome, scientists practiced on the genomes of

A) closely related species.
B) organisms with smaller genomes.
C) the researchers themselves.
D) people with genetic disorders.

Question 10

Genetic screening utilizes each of the following methods, except

A) single nucleotide polymorphism analysis.
B) polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
C) chromosome counting.
D) the Watson model.

Question 11

The pea aphid is a subject of investigation by comparative geneticists because

A) it has large nerve cells that can be used as a model for memory loss.
B) it can be a model for studying multiple sclerosis.
C) it destroys large areas of rain forests.
D) it is pesticide-resistant and a serious pest of corn.

Question 12

A major difference between the sciences of genetics and genomics is

A) the scale of the questions being asked.
B) that genetics includes the study of DNA, whereas genomics does not.
C) that genomics starts from totally new and different data.
D) that genomics is the study of how genes are expressed in cells, whereas genetics is the study of expression within entire organisms.

Question 13

Which of the following is not an example of an ethical problem raised by genetic screening?

A) Parents may attempt to choose the sex of a child.
B) Parents may choose to abort a disease-carrying fetus.
C) If insurance does not cover screening, only the rich will have access to this technology.
D) Carriers of a given genetic disease are more likely to produce children with that disease.

Question 14

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are important to the field of genomics because they

A) allow scientists to determine how many genes make up an organism's genome.
B) made the Human Genome Project possible.
C) can be used to determine who is at risk for a disease before symptoms appear.
D) are used in the process of DNA sequencing.

Question 15

The gene whose mutated form is associated with a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease normally produces a protein that

A) plays a role in delivering cholesterol to cells.
B) encourages plaques to develop in the brain.
C) is known as Alzheimer's protein type B.
D) has no known uses.

Question 16

Which of the following statements best describes an outcome of genetic screening?

A) It can determine the phenotype of a baby before the baby is conceived.
B) It looks for the presence of gene mutations to assess a person's future health risks.
C) It makes possible the replacement of defective chromosomes.
D) It amplifies certain segments of a person's DNA.

Question 17

Which of the following statements about the history of genetics is false?

A) Aristotle believed that parents passed biological information to their offspring.
B) Mendel discovered the structure of DNA.
C) Morgan's work on fruit flies revealed that genes are arranged in linkage groups.
D) Griffith showed that a transforming factor converted harmless bacteria into deadly bacteria.

Question 18

Which of the following statements about genetic screening is false?

A) Information gathered with genetic screening has the potential to be used against people who may have a predisposition to a given disease.
B) Genetic screening may lead to invasion of privacy.
C) Genetic screening could result in genome-based discrimination.
D) As soon as a mutated gene is detected, a cure for the disease it causes is immediately apparent.

Question 19

Frederick Sanger

A) developed what would become the most widely used method for sequencing DNA.
B) showed that DNA was most probably the genetic material.
C) confirmed Mendel's laws using DNA patterns of inheritance.
D) published the complete genome for a virus.

Question 20

In the Human Genome Project, DNA from

A) one individual was selected as the model.
B) thousands of individuals was used.
C) identical twins was used.
D) several individuals from diverse backgrounds was used.

Question 21

Groups that marry among themselves are useful to scientists studying genomics because

A) their genomes show less variation making it easier to identify important single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
B) their genomes have more genetic variation and, therefore, more SNPs to analyze.
C) they tend to have a higher rate of metabolic disorders that are not associated with SNPs.
D) they produce larger numbers of offspring allowing scientists to easily study the inheritance of SNPs.

Question 22

A theoretical organism with five genes that can either be on or off can produce ______ different combinations of RNA.

A) 16
B) 25
C) 32
D) 243

Question 23

Which of the following sets of cellular components is not likely to be highly conserved between humans, fruit flies, and nematode worms?

A) RNA molecules
B) DNA synthesis enzymes
C) transcription factors
D) metabolic enzymes

Question 24

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Genes shared by distantly related organisms generally produce vastly different RNA products.
B) Knowing the function of a gene in one organism has no bearing on the function of a similar gene in a distantly related organism.
C) Genes shared by unrelated organisms generally have totally different functions.
D) Knowing the functions of a gene in one organism can help us locate genes with similar functions in other organisms.

Question 25

Which proteins would probably be the most similar between humans and fruit flies?

A) the proteins used in cellular respiration
B) the proteins in nerve cells
C) the proteins in visual receptors
D) the proteins in taste receptors

Question 26

Human genes

A) are unique to humans.
B) have similar counterparts in fruit flies and nematode worms.
C) are exactly like the equivalent genes in fruit flies.
D) are exactly like the equivalent genes in bacteria.

Question 27

The fact that mammals (including humans) and fruit flies have similar genes regulating their daily "clocks" suggests that

A) these genes are also found in prokaryotes.
B) clock genes appeared recently in animal evolution.
C) mammals evolved from fruit flies.
D) maintaining a daily "clock" is essential to the normal function of all animals.

Question 28

Why was Craig Venter's approach to sequencing the human genome controversial?

A) He used some of his funding money to address the social and ethical issues of sequencing the human genome.
B) He competed with federally funded programs by using private funding.
C) He was the first to know what each gene's product did in the body.
D) He made the sequences of the genes available to the public.

Question 29

Which of the following statements best summarizes the competition that occurred between publicly funded and commercially funded scientists during the Human Genome Project?

A) The two different methods they used resulted in entirely different drafts of the human genome.
B) The existence of competing groups working on the same project pushed them both to finish more quickly than they might have otherwise.
C) The publication of their results has prevented other scientists from working on the human genome.
D) The existence of two groups led to the identification of every gene's product as well as its sequence.

Question 30

The human genome may contain only about 10 times the number of genes possessed by a bacterium. However,

A) this increase in gene number produces far more than a 10-fold increase in the complexity of the genome.
B) bacteria have large areas of noncoding DNA in their genomes, which reduces the number of active genes.
C) humans produce more copies of each RNA molecule, thus increasing the variety of gene products.
D) the number of genes possessed by an organism has no bearing on its genetic complexity.

Question 31

Which of the following adds to the complexity of gene expression in eukaryotic cells?

A) By removing different introns from mRNA before translation, several different proteins can be made from a single gene.
B) Regions of noncoding DNA allow very complex regulation of when a gene is transcribed and how many copies are made of that gene.
C) Chromosomal rearrangements like duplications can easily alter the overall phenotype of an organism.
D) all of the above

Question 32

Why was it important to use a wide variety of donor DNA for the Human Genome Project?

A) Each person's genome is 99 percent different from every other person's genome.
B) The single-stranded DNA found in each person's genome first had to pair with a strand from another person.
C) The wide variety allowed scientists to avoid using a genome with significant mutations as the benchmark.
D) Mixing human genomes with other animal genomes gave a more accurate final sequence.

Question 33

The international consortium of sequencing laboratories that works together to determine the sequence of base pairs in human DNA is known as the _______ ______ Project.

Question 34

Examine the figure below.
How many different proteins could be produced as a result of the selective removal of introns from this mRNA molecule?

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4

Question 35

The current estimate of the number of genes in the human genome

A) is based on the number of genes in the fruit fly genome.
B) has not changed from previous estimates.
C) is much greater than original estimates.
D) is much less that original estimates.

Question 36

Which list below starts with the smallest estimated genome size and ends with the largest?

A) bacterium, fruit fly, nematode worm, budding yeast
B) budding yeast, fruit fly, bacterium, nematode worm
C) nematode worm, fruit fly, budding yeast, bacterium
D) bacterium, budding yeast, nematode worm, fruit fly

Question 37

The human _______ is estimated to consist of 20,000 to 30,000 genes.

Question 38

If introns are selectively removed from the mRNA of a eukaryotic cell,

A) the cell can be made to revert to a prokaryotic cell.
B) a single gene can produce many different mRNA transcripts.
C) the DNA in the cell's genome can be mutated.
D) mRNA can be translated without being first transcribed.

Question 39

_______ is the science of the structure and expression of entire sets of hereditary material and how they change during evolution.

Question 40

This is the karyotype of an individual with a genetic disorder.
What is the cause of this disorder?

A) The individual has more than one X chromosome.
B) The individual has three copies of one of their chromosomes.
C) The individual has fewer than the normal number of autosomes.
D) Some of the chromosomes of this individual are bent rather than straight.

Question 41

Single nucleotide polymorphisms are single _______ differences within a DNA sequence.

Question 42

Genes that have remained the same (or very similar) between distantly related organisms and through evolutionary time are considered to be highly _______ genes.

Question 43

The human genome was the first animal genome to be sequenced.

Question 44

The sciences of genetics and genomics are the same thing.

Question 45

SNP stands for single nucleotide _____________.

Question 46

Only 2 percent of the human genome contains DNA sequences that actually encode __________.

Question 47

_____ _____ is a new field in biology where scientists compare the genomes of different organisms.

Question 48

The more complex an organism is, the more genes that organism must have.

Question 49

SNP profiles can provide insights into how a patient may respond to drug therapies.

Question 50

The regulation of biological clocks may involve similar genes in different species.

Question 51

Examine the figure below.

These two genes may have up to four different pattens of gene expression.

Question 52

DNA chips can be used to identify the single nucleotide polymorphisms carried by an individual

Question 53

The figure below shows two genes that can produce four different combinations of RNA based on which genes are on or off.

In the fourth possible combination, gene A must be _____ and gene B must be ______ .

Question 54

Human genes have no counterparts in other organisms.

Question 55

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) aid in the identification of the genes that cause a genetic disorder.

Question 56

SNP profiling can detect an SNP that is associated with the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease.

Question 57

Unlike bacterial genomes, human genomes have_______ that must be removed from RNA molecules.

Question 58

There are still gaps that need to be filled in the mapping of the human genome.

Question 59

Because of the possibility of selectively removing introns from an RNA product, each human gene may be able to produce a number of different RNA transcripts.

Question 60

The number of babies born with Down syndrome is decreasing in the United States because _____ _____ allows parents to determine whether their child has the condition early in pregnancy.

Question 61

Bacterial genes have introns but human genes do not.

Question 62

A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) may have no affect on the phenotype of an organism.