Chapter 12: Inheritance, Genes, and Chromosomes

Test File
to accompany
Life: The Science of Biology, Ninth
Edition Sadava • Hillis • Heller •
Berenbaum

Chapter 12: Inheritance, Genes, and Chromosomes


TEST FILE QUESTIONS
(By Catherine Ueckert)

Multiple Choice

1. In Kölreuter’s studies, reciprocal crosses
a. always gave identical results.
b. only involved heterozygous individuals.
c. supported the blending hypothesis of inheritance.
d. could be done only with homozygous individuals.
e. consisted of an F1 and an F2 generation.
Answer: a
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 237
Bloom’s Category: 1. Remembering

2. During what year did Gregor Mendel orally present his genetics
project? a. 1565
b. 1665
c. 1765
d. 1865
e. 1965
Answer: d
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 238
Bloom’s Category: 1. Remembering

3. Mendel’s research was rediscovered in the published studies of
a. de Vries.
b. Correns.
c. von Tschermak.
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
Answer: d
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 238
Bloom’s Category: 1. Remembering

,4. Which of the following is not a characteristic that makes an organism suitable
for genetic studies?
a. A small number of chromosomes
b. A short generation time
c. Ease of cultivation
d. The ability to control crosses
e. The availability of a variation for traits
Answer: a
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 238–239
Bloom’s Category: 2. Understanding

5. If Mendel had performed experiments on cattle rather than on peas, the patterns
of inheritance would not have been easily detectable, because cattle
a. reproduce asexually.
b. have small numbers of offspring.
c. do not have observable phenotypes.
d. do not have genotypes.
e. do not have autosomes.
Answer: b
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 238–240
Bloom’s Category: 4. Analyzing

6. A key factor that allowed Mendel to interpret the results of his breeding
experiments was that
a. the varieties of peas he used were “true-breeding.”
b. peas naturally self-pollinate.
c. peas can reproduce asexually.
d. pollination could be controlled.
e. Both a and d
Answer: e
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 239
Bloom’s Category: 2. Understanding

7. If two strains of true-breeding plants that have different alleles for a certain
character are crossed, their progeny are called
a. the P generation.
b. the F1 generation.
c. the F2 generation.
d. F1 crosses.
e. F2 progeny.
Answer: b
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?

,Page: 239
Bloom’s Category: 1. Remembering

8. Which of the following methods was not used by Mendel in his study of the genetics
of the garden pea?
a. Maintenance of true-breeding lines
b. Cross-pollination
c. Microscopy
d. Production of hybrid plants
e. Quantitative analysis of results
Answer: c
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 239–240, 245
Bloom’s Category: 2. Understanding

9. Mendel’s crossing of spherical-seeded pea plants with wrinkled-seeded pea plants
resulted in progeny that all had spherical seeds. This indicates that the wrinkled-seed
trait is
a. codominant.
b. dominant.
c. recessive.
d. Both a and b
e. Both a and c
Answer: c
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 240
Bloom’s Category: 2. Understanding

10.–12. Two different groups of imaginary schmoos live in geographically separated
locations and rarely interbreed. On one occasion, a big-footed white schmoo does mate
with a small-footed brown schmoo. Three offspring result: one big-footed brown
schmoo and two small-footed brown schmoos.

10. Which statement about the inheritance of color in schmoos is most likely to
be correct?
a. Brown is dominant to white.
b. White is dominant to brown.
c. White and brown are codominant.
d. Both a and c
e. This cannot be answered without more information.
Answer: a
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 240
Bloom’s Category: 3. Applying

, 11. Which statement about the inheritance of footedness in schmoos is most likely to
be correct?
a. Big is dominant to small.
b. Small is dominant to big.
c. Big and small are codominant.
d. Both a and c
e. This cannot be answered without more information.
Answer: e
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 240
Bloom’s Category: 3. Applying

12. If big feet (B) in schmoos is dominant to small feet (b), the genotype of the big-footed
white parent schmoo with respect to the foot gene can
a. only be bb.
b. only be BB.
c. only be Bb.
d. either be bb or BB.
e. either be bb and Bb.
Answer: c
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 240
Bloom’s Category: 3. Applying

13. If a trait not expressed in the F1 generation reappears in the F2 generation,
the inheritance of the trait in question is an example of
a. codominance.
b. dominance and recessiveness.
c. incomplete dominance.
d. epistasis.
e. a sex-linked trait.
Answer: b
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 240
Bloom’s Category: 2. Understanding

14. Mendel concluded that each pea has two units for each character, and each
gamete contains one unit. Mendel’s “unit” is now referred to as a(n)
a. gene.
b. character.
c. allele.
d. transcription factor.
e. None of the above
Answer: a
Textbook Reference: 12.1 What Are the Mendelian Laws of Inheritance?
Page: 241