BIOL10521

One hour only

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

GENES, EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT

18 January 2016

14:00 15:00

Electronic calculators may be used provided that they cannot store text.

Before beginning to answer the questions please study the instructions carefully.
The method of selection of the appropriate answer may change during the course of
the paper.
Answer ALL questions on the answer-sheet provided.

Indicate your answer in pen on the answer sheet according to the instructions. If you
wish to change an answer you have given, cross out the original letter and make sure
that your final answer is bold and clear.

Check carefully that you have entered your registration number on the answer sheet
as instructed.

Please read the next sheet carefully before you begin the examination

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Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) Answer Sheet Instructions

Please read this page very carefully before starting the exam.
Please note that this exam will be negatively marked. That is, a fraction of a mark
(1/(n-1), where n is the number of options) will be subtracted for each wrong answer
e.g. a wrong answer to a question with 4 possible choices will receive a mark of
-0.33. This is intended to ensure that if you guess at random, you will get a score of
zero. Questions that are not answered or where the answer is illegible will score
zero.

Notes for filling out the MCQ answer sheet:

1. You must use a pen to complete your MCQ answers as faint marks may not
be picked up when your marksheet is scanned.

2. To record an answer entirely fill in the relevant letter choice for each question.
If you make a mistake, clearly cross out the old answer and fill in the new
answer.

3. Mark only one answer for each question.

4. Do not mark the sheet anywhere except as instructed; this may result in
rejection of the sheet from the reader.

5. Write your name in the boxes provided.

6. It is absolutely necessary to record your ID number (shown on your Library

Card) accurately in the space provided. This is done as follows:

- Write the first 7 digits of your ID number

in the box provided (see diagram) i.e.
omitting the final digit, which should be in a
lighter font. Do not use any other number. If
in doubt call an invigilator.

- Beneath the box fill in the appropriate

corresponding number in the column below
each digit.

- Please note that this is the only criteria by

which your answer sheet will be recognised
by the optical reader. If you get it wrong the
sheet will be rejected from the reader!

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SECTION A (20 Marks, 24 minutes)

Answer ALL questions. Each question is worth ONE mark.

In questions 1-20 select the ONE MOST SUITABLE response from the options
provided.

1. The telomere is

A. found at the end of each chromosome arm

B. where chromosomes recombine during meiosis
C. where DNA replication starts
D. where microtubules become attached to the chromosome

2. In plants, the stage of the sexual life cycle where the cells are haploid is known as
the

A. gametophyte
B. haplotype
C. sporophyte
D. zygote

3. Cytosine methylation in vertebrates is associated with

A. crossing-over
B. genomic imprinting
C. incomplete penetrance
D. variable expressivity

4. The SRY gene

A. encodes a histone acetyltransferase

B. is an example of a HOX gene
C. is expressed in the indifferent gonad in male embryos
D. is located in the pseudoautosomal region of the Y chromosome

5. A baby has been diagnosed with Turner syndrome. What is the babys karyotype?

A. 45, X
B. 47, XY + 21
C. 47, XXY
D. 47, XYY

6. X chromosome inactivation

A. begins after birth

B. can occur in both males and females
C. is regulated by the SRY gene
D. is the explanation for maternal imprinting

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7. When closely related individuals mate with each other, or inbreed, the offspring are
often not as fit as the offspring of two unrelated individuals. Why?

A. Close relatives are genetically incompatible

B. Inbreeding can bring together rare, deleterious mutations that lead to
harmful phenotypes
C. Inbreeding causes normally silent alleles to be expressed
D. The DNA of close relatives reacts negatively in the offspring

8. The endosymbiotic theory was proposed to explain the presence of which

structures in the eukaryotic cell?

A. Mitochondria and chloroplasts

B. Mitochondria and flagella
C. Ribosomes and chloroplasts
D. Ribosomes and flagella

9. Marfan Syndrome, a dominant single-gene defect, is characterized by lens

dislocation, long limbs, spindly fingers, a caved-in chest, and a weakened aorta.
What type of trait is this an example of?

A. Incompletely dominant
B. Multifactorial
C. Phenocopy
D. Pleiotropic

10. Selection that favours the more extreme values for a trait over intermediate
values is called

A. directional
B. dispersive
C. disruptive
D. distributional

11. The genetic code is

A. robust
B. recursive
C. redundant
D. replicative

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12. Euphorbs and cacti share adaptations

A. by ascent
B. by descent
C. through convergence
D. through divergence

13. The EPAS1 gene controls red blood cell production. It is thought to

A. be an example of diallelic pseudogenisation

B. be involved in sickle cell anaemia
C. be related to changes in epigenetic regulation
D. enable Tibetans to live at high altitude and to have been obtained from the
Denisovans

14. Evolution by natural selection occurs when the following conditions exist:

A. Differential fitness and heritability

B. Heritable traits that vary between individuals and which lead to differential
fitness
C. Time, selection, variability
D. Variation, heritability, fitness

15. Olfactory genes in whales show

A. functional differentiation
B. heterogeneity
C. pseudogenisation
D. random non-selective variation

16. Human HOX11A and human HOX11D are examples of

A. cytoskeletal genes
B. orthologous genes
C. paralogous genes
D. ribosomal genes

17. What are some of the major advantages of Caenorhabditis elegans, as a model
organism?

A. External development, tetrapod, and asexual reproduction

B. Is a mammal and has strong genetics
C. Is a vertebrate and has sexual and asexual reproduction
D. Very short generation time, transparent embryos and adults, sexual and
self-reproduction

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18. Isolation of cells or tissues from different parts of an embryo at a given stage of
development, in order to establish a specification map is an example of

A. descriptive embryology
B. epigenetics
C. experimental embryology
D. morphogenesis

19. The Nieuwkoop centre

A. is present in the dorsal mesoderm - induces the heart

B. is present in the dorsal vegetal pole - induces organizer
C. is present in the ventral mesoderm - induces the blood
D. is present in the ventral vegetal pole - induces ventral mesoderm

20. Allotetraploidy occurs when

A. meiosis fails within a single species

B. mitosis fails within a single species
C. two different species hybridize, followed by failure in meiosis
D. two different species hybridize, followed by failure in mitosis

END OF SECTION A

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SECTION B (30 Marks, 36 minutes)

Answer ALL questions. Each question is worth TWO marks.

In questions 21-35 select the ONE MOST SUITABLE response from the options
provided.

21. The human genome contains around 3 billion base pairs. Which of the following
statements is true?

A. It includes around 5% protein encoding genes and 85% junk DNA; the
remaining 10% was acquired by introgression with ancient humans
B. It includes around 5% protein-encoding genes which differ by only 90 amino
acids from the Neanderthal sequence; 10% of the genome is from the Alu
transposable element
C. It includes around 10% protein-encoding genes, while 45% of the genome
is composed of remnants of the Alu transposable element
D. It includes functional DNA, traces of retroviruses and bidirectionally
selected bases

22. Red-green colour blindness is an X-linked recessive disorder. A woman with

normal colour vision has a father who is colour blind. Her husband has normal
colour vision and his father is also colour blind. What is the probability that their
son will be colour blind?

A. 0
B. 0.25
C. 0.5
D. 1.0

23. You cross a true breeding wild-type corn plant with a true breeding plant with
variegated seed coat and colourless endosperm. You suspect the genes are
linked, so you cross one of the resulting normal offspring to a true breeding
variegated, colourless plant. In the F2 generation you obtain four phenotypes with
the following numbers of each: Wild-type 350; variegated seed coat 63;
colourless endospem 57; variegated seed coat and colourless endosperm 330.
What is the map distance between the two genes?

A. 0.15 cM
B. 1.5 cM
C. 15 cM
D. 150 cM

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24. A haplotype is

A. a combination of closely-linked single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or

alleles on a single chromosome
B. an organism that is monosomic for one chromosome pair
C. an organism with a haploid chromosome complement
D. the complete DNA sequence of a single chromosome

25. Hamiltons rule states that altruism will tend to appear where rb > c. This means
that

A. if cost-benefit relatedness is low, then altruism is unlikely

B. if relatedness is high then benefits can be relatively low and altruism may
still appear, depending on the costs
C. if relatedness is low and costs are low then benefits must be high
D. the costs of altruism must always be linked to the relatedness of the
individuals performing the altruistic acts

Question 26 refers to the figure below

26. This figure above summarises potential factors that may have been involved in
the Cambrian Explosion. It suggests

A. that exploitation of new niches altered marine ecology, leading to

morphological diversification
B. that new niches arose as a result of morphological diversification
C. that shifts in trace elements directly affected speciation
D. that trace elements altered cell function, producing changes in gene
regulation, which in turn lead to increased diversification
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27. In a study of beak length in sparrows, the total phenotypic variance (V p) was 62.7
and the environmental variance (VE) was 10.7. What is the broad-sense
heritability for this trait?

A. 0.17
B. 0.21
C. 0.83
D. 1.00

Questions 28 and 29 refer to the figure below.

28. If one wanted to isolate pluripotent embryonic stem cells, which region would you
want to isolate and culture?

A. Region labelled A
B. Region labelled B
C. Region labelled C
D. Region labelled D

29. Where are the trophoblast cells located?

A. Region labelled A
B. Region labelled B
C. Region labelled C
D. Region labelled D

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30. Three genes (A, B and C) each with two alleles (A/a, B/b and C/c) determine
height in a plant. The A, B and C alleles contribute 6 cm, 8 cm and 6 cm to height,
respectively. The a, b and c alleles contribute 2 cm, 2 cm and 4 cm, respectively.
All the alleles have additive effects on height of the plant. If the following true-
breeding strains are crossed, AA BB cc x aa bb cc, what is the predicted average
height of the F1 plants?

A. 20 cm
B. 22 cm
C. 24 cm
D. 26 cm

Question 31 refers to the Figure below.

31. This figure represents the experimental flowchart and result of a series of
experiments that were carried out over 40 years ago. What were the conclusions
and who performed the experiments?

A. Nuclei from differentiated cells from the adult or tadpole can be

reprogrammed Ian Wilmut and Keith Cambell
B. Nuclei from differentiated cells from the adult or tadpole can be
reprogrammed John Gurdon
C. Nuclei from differentiated cells from the adult or tadpole cannot be
reprogrammed Ian Wilmut and Keith Cambell
D. Nuclei from differentiated cells from the adult or tadpole cannot be
reprogrammed John Gurdon

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Question 32 refers to the Figure below.

32. In the ascidian embryo, the fate map at the 8-cell stage corresponds to the
specification map at the 8-cell stage. This is an example of

A. epigenetics
B. induction
C. mosaic development
D. regulative development

33. Hox genes encode

A. cytoplasmic signalling molecules that are clustered in the genome

B. extracellular signalling molecules that are clustered in the genome
C. transcription factors that are clustered in the genome
D. transmembrane signalling molecules that are clustered in the genome

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Question 34 refers to the pedigree diagram below.

34. What is the most likely mode of inheritance for the human disease pedigree
above?

A. Autosomal dominant
B. Autosomal recessive
C. X-linked dominant
D. X-linked recessive

35. A young man with phenylketonuria, who was successfully treated following
diagnosis on newborn screening, is planning to start a family with his healthy,
unaffected, and unrelated partner, who has no family history of phenylketonuria.
Phenylketonuria shows autosomal recessive inheritance with an incidence of 1 in
10,000. Assume that the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Which of
the following is correct?

A. The probability that his partner is a carrier is 1 in 100

B. The probability that his partner will transmit a mutant allele to their first
child is 1 in 50.
C. The probability that their first child will be affected is 1 in 100
D. The probability that the man will transmit a mutant allele to his first child is
1 in 2

END OF EXAMINATION PAPER

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