biology 6- Inheritance, Variation & Evolution

Question 1

What is sexual reproduction?

Answer 1

Reproduction involving the fusion of gametes

Gametes are sex cells that contain half the genetic information of a body cell.

Question 2

What is a gamete?

Answer 2

A sex cell that contains half the genetic information of a body cell

Examples include sperm and egg in animals, pollen and ovaries in plants.

Question 3

What is meiosis?

Answer 3

The type of cell division that produces gametes

Four daughter cells are produced from one original cell, each genetically different.

Question 4

What is fertilisation?

Answer 4

Fusion of gametes that restores the full number of chromosomes.

Question 5

What is asexual reproduction?

Answer 5

Reproduction involving only one parent and no gametes

Produces genetically identical clones.

Question 6

What is mitosis?

Answer 6

Cell division that produces two identical daughter cells with the full amount of chromosomes.

Question 7

How many daughter cells are produced in mitosis?

Answer 7

2

Question 8

How many daughter cells are produced in meiosis?

Answer 8

4

Question 9

What is the purpose of mitosis?

Answer 9

Growth, repair, asexual reproduction.

Question 10

What is the purpose of meiosis?

Answer 10

Produce gametes for sexual reproduction.

Question 11

What is an allele?

Answer 11

Different versions of the same gene – dominant and recessive.

Question 12

What is a dominant allele?

Answer 12

An allele that is always expressed; only one copy is needed.

Question 13

What is a recessive allele?

Answer 13

Only expressed if two copies are present.

Question 14

What does homozygous mean?

Answer 14

Both alleles for a gene are the same.

Question 15

What does heterozygous mean?

Answer 15

Both alleles for a gene are different.

Question 16

What is a genotype?

Answer 16

The alleles present for a particular gene.

Question 17

What is a phenotype?

Answer 17

The physical feature expressed for a particular gene.

Question 18

What are single gene characteristics?

Answer 18

Characteristics controlled by only one gene

Examples include fur colour in mice and colour blindness in humans.

Question 19

What are multiple gene characteristics?

Answer 19

Characteristics controlled by many genes

An example is height.

Question 20

What is an advantage of sexual reproduction?

Answer 20

Produces variation, offspring are more likely to survive changes to the environment and disease.

Question 21

What is a disadvantage of sexual reproduction?

Answer 21

Requires a mate; slower way of producing offspring.

Question 22

What is an advantage of asexual reproduction?

Answer 22

Produces lots of offspring quickly; no mate needed.

Question 23

What is a disadvantage of asexual reproduction?

Answer 23

Offspring are less likely to survive environmental changes or diseases.

Question 24

What is polydactyly?

Answer 24

A genetic condition that results in extra fingers and toes.

Question 25

What is cystic fibrosis?

Answer 25

A disorder of cell membranes causing sticky mucus on lungs.

Question 26

What genotype indicates a person with polydactyly?

Answer 26

DD or Dd

Question 27

What genotype indicates a person without polydactyly?

Answer 27

dd

Question 28

Does polydactyly have carriers?

Answer 28

No

Question 29

Does cystic fibrosis have carriers?

Answer 29

Yes – genotype Ff

Question 30

What is DNA?

Answer 30

Genetic material that is a polymer made up of two strands forming a double helix.

Question 31

What is a gene?

Answer 31

A small section of DNA on a chromosome that codes for a particular sequence of amino acids.

Question 32

What is a chromosome?

Answer 32

A long coil of DNA found in the nucleus.

Question 33

What is a nucleotide?

Answer 33

The monomer that makes up DNA, consisting of a phosphate group, a sugar, and a base.

Question 34

What are the four bases of DNA?

Answer 34

A, C, G, T

Question 35

What is a triplet (codon)?

Answer 35

A sequence of three bases that codes for one amino acid.

Question 36

What is a mutation?

Answer 36

A change in the base sequence in DNA.

Question 37

What is a non-coding region in DNA?

Answer 37

Parts of DNA that do not code for proteins and can switch genes on and off.

Question 38

What is a genome?

Answer 38

The entire genetic material of an organism.

Question 39

What was the Human Genome Project?

Answer 39

A project that sequenced the entire human genome.

Question 40

What is variation?

Answer 40

The differences between organisms caused by genes, environment, or both.

Question 41

What is evolution?

Answer 41

The change in the genes of a population over time.

Question 42

What is natural selection?

Answer 42

The process by which individuals best adapted to the environment survive and pass on their genes.

Question 43

What is speciation?

Answer 43

Occurs when two populations are so different that they can no longer breed to produce fertile offspring.

Question 44

What is the role of competition in natural selection?

Answer 44

There is competition between individuals for resources such as food.

Question 45

Who is Jean-Baptiste Lamarck?

Answer 45

A scientist who developed a theory of evolution stating that characteristics acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed on to offspring.

Question 46

Who is Alfred Russel Wallace?

Answer 46

A scientist who independently proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Question 47

Who is Charles Darwin?

Answer 47

A scientist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection based on observations during his expedition on the HMS Beagle.

Question 48

What was a reason for the initial rejection of Darwin's ideas?

Answer 48

His theory challenged the idea that God made all animals and plants.

Question 49

What is selective breeding?

Answer 49

The process by which humans breed plants and animals for particular genetic characteristics.

Question 50

What is genetic engineering?

Answer 50

A process that involves modifying the genome of an organism by introducing a gene from another organism.

Question 51

What is a GM crop?

Answer 51

Crops that have been produced by genetic engineering.

Question 52

What is a vector in genetic engineering?

Answer 52

Something that can carry a gene into another organism, such as a bacterial plasmid or virus.

Question 53

What is the process of genetic engineering?

Answer 53

Genes are cut out by enzymes, inserted into a vector, and then transferred to required cells.

Question 54

What is a fossil?

Answer 54

The remains of organisms from millions of years ago found in rocks.

Question 55

What are some problems with the fossil record?

Answer 55

Many early forms of life were soft-bodied, leaving few traces. Geological activity has also destroyed many traces.

Question 56

What is extinction?

Answer 56

When there are no more living organisms in a species.

Question 57

What is antibiotic resistance?

Answer 57

A condition where bacteria become unaffected by antibiotics due to mutations.

Question 58

Who classified organisms into groups based on structure?

Answer 58

Carl Linnaeus

Question 59

What is a binomial name?

Answer 59

A consistent way of naming organisms, composed of the genus name followed by the species name.

Question 60

What is the Linnaean classification system?

Answer 60

A hierarchical classification system: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.

Question 61

What is the three-domain system?

Answer 61

A classification system that includes Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea.

Question 62

What is tissue culture?

Answer 62

Using small groups of cells from part of a plant to grow identical new plants.

Question 63

What are cuttings in gardening?

Answer 63

Producing many identical new plants from a parent plant.

Question 64

What are embryo transplants?

Answer 64

Splitting apart cells from a developing animal embryo and transplanting them into host mothers.

Question 65

What is adult cell cloning?

Answer 65

A process where the nucleus from an adult body cell is inserted into an unfertilized egg cell.