UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL

EXAMINATION SYNDICATE
General Certificate of Education Advanced Level

BIOLOGY 9266/2
PAPER 2 Multiple Choice

MAY / JUNE SESSION 2001 1 hour

1. Stained animal tissue is viewed under the light microscope at x 100
magnification.

Which observation could be made?

A. The cells had Golgi bodies and mitochondria.

B. The cytoplasm contained endoplasmic reticulum and
ribosomes.
C. The cytoplasm contained many dense granular bodies.
D. the nuclear envelope was permeated by pores

2. Which structure with a diameter of 20 nm is found attached to

membranes in a cell?

A. Golgi body
B. lysosome
C. mitochondrion
D. ribosome

3. The water potential of three adjacent plant cells is shown.

In which direction will water move?

A. from cell X to cells Y and Z

B. from cell Y to cells X and Z
C. from cell Z to cell X
D. from cell Z to cell Y

4. Potassium cyanide is known to interfere with the formation and use of

ATP in cell metabolism.

If the use of potassium cynade resulted in an accumulation of a solute

in a cell, it may be deduced that the solute normally enters by

A. active transport.
 B. diffusion.
C. osmosis.
D. pinocytosis.

5. Samples of a solution containing carbohydrates were treated as

follows.

sample treatment result

1 tested with Benedict’s reagent no colour change
2 warmed with acid, neutralized and brick-red precipitate
then tested with Benedict’s reagent
3 treated with amylase solution and brick-red precipitate
then tested with Benedict’s reagent

Which carbohydrates were present in the solution?

A. glucose, maltose and glycogen

B. glucose, sucrose and glycogen
C. maltose and starch
D. sucrose and starch

6. Which term most appropriately describes catalase, collagen and

haemoglobin?

A. enzymes
B. fibrous proteins
C. globular proteins
D. polypeptides

7. The diagram shows a ring structure of glucose.

 Which form of glucose is shown and in which molecule is it present?

Form of glucose Where present

A α Cellulose
B α Starch
C β Cellulose
D β starch

8. A fungal amylase is incubated with starch at 22oC at pH8. when a

sample is removed after five minutes and mixed with a solution of
iodine in potassium iodine solution, the mixture is a light-brown
colour.

What is the most likely explanation for this observation?

A. All the starch has been hydrolysed to maltose.

B. An inhibitor of the fungal amylase is present.
C. Fungal amylase does not catalyse the hydrolysis of starch.
D. The pH is too high to allow the reaction to proceed quickly.

9. In beer-making, enzymes present in malting barley hydrolyse starch

into sugar, ready for fermentation. The graph shows the production of
sugar at three different temperatures over a period of 50 minutes. All
other conditions were controlled.

What does the graph show?

A. At 60oC, all the starch is hydrolyzed within 30 minutes.

B. At 70oC, the enzymes are denatured before hydrolysis is
complete.
C. Sugar is absent from the barley before malting.
D. The optimum temperature for the enzymes is 50oC.
10. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, the diploid number of
chromosomes is eight.

In the absence of crossing over or mutation, how many genetically

unique kinds of gamete might be formed by one individual?

A. 4 B. 8 C. 16 D. 32

11. The diagram shows a dividing nucleus containing two pairs of

homologous chromosomes.

Which phase of nuclear division is represented?

A. anaphase of mitosis
B. anaphase II of meiosis
C. metaphase I of meiosis
D. metaphase of mitosis

12. During which stage of meiosis do centromeres divide?

A. prophase I
B. metaphase I
C. prophase II
D. metaphase II
13. If there were 34 amino acids and DNA only contained two types of
nitrogenous bases, what would be the minimum number of bases per
codon that could for proteins?

A. 3 B. 4 C. 6 D. 8

14. In the DNA sequence for sicle cell anaemia, adenine replaces thymine
in a CTT triplet, forming the triplet CAT, During translation of the
mutant mRNA, the amino acid valine is incorporated into the
haemoglobin molecule instead of glutamic acid.

What is the anticodon in the transfer RNA molecule carrying this

valine?
A. CAT B. CAU C. GTA D. GUA
15. Synthetic insulin from genetically engineered bacteria is compared
with human pancreatic insulin.

Which statement and explanation about the insulin molecules is

correct?

statement explanation
A different a bacterial gene is altered to resemble the human gene
B different altered human genes are inserted into the bacteria
C identical a bacterial gene is altered to resemble the human gene
D prophase a human gene controls the synthesis of bacterial insulin

16. When bacteria are genetically engineered to produce human insulin,

the enzymes used in the procedure are

1 ligase,
2 restriction endonuclease,
3 reverse transcriptase.

In which order are the enzymes used?

First → last
A 1 3 2
B 2 3 1
C 2 1 3
D 3 2 1
17. The diagram shows a metabolic pathway involving some amino acids.

Three mutant strains of Escherichia coli each fail to produce a

different enzyme in the pathway.

What should be supplied to the culture medium to enable growth of all

three mutant strains?

A. arginine
B. citrulline
C. citrulline and arginine
D. citrulline and ornithine

18. In which taxonomic group are all the organisms most similar to each

A. class
B. family
C. genus
D. order

19. What is the best characteristic for determining whether sexually

reproducing flowering plants from separate populations are members
of the same species?

A. ability to cross-fertilise
B. ability to cross-pollinate
C. occupation of similar niches
D. similarity of flower structure
20. Red-green colour blindness is caused by an X-linked recessive allele.

What would be the expected phenotypes of the offspring of a colour

blind woman and a man with normal colour vision?

% colour blind offspring

female male
A 0 100
B 25 50
C 50 50
D 50 100

21. The table shows the blood group phenotypes resulting from crosses
between different genotypes.

Genotype of 1st parent Genotype of 2nd parent

|A|A |A|O
|A|O A A and O
|B|O A and AB A, B, O and AB
Two parents have a son who has blood group A and phenylketonuria.
One parent has blood group O and the other has blood group AB.
Neither parent has phenylketonuria.

What is the probability that the second child of these parents will be a
girl with blood group B who does not have phenylketonuria?

A. 1 in 16 B. 1 in 8 C. 3 in 16 D. 3 in 8

22. There are two hypotheses to explain the production of white, pale pink
or dark pink flowers in a species of plant.

hypothesis 1 There are two co-dominant alleles.

hypothesis 2 There are three alleles, one for each flower colour.

Which procedure is the best way of testing these hypotheses?

 A. Analysis of the flower pigments in several different flowers by
chromatography to find whether some plants contain more than
one pigment.
B. Controlled cross-pollination of all the different colour varieties
available, in all possible combinations, and recording the
colours shown by the offspring.
C. Controlled self-pollination of several individuals of each of the
colour varieties and recording the colours shown by the
offspring of each individual plant sampled.
D. Surveying large wild populations and finding the ratios of the
different colours in these populations.

23. What are the products of the light-dependent reactions of

photosynthesis?

A. oxygen, ATP and NADP

B. oxygen, ATP and NADP
C. water, ATP and NADP
D. water, ATP and reduced NADP
24. Carbon dioxide labeled with 14C has been used to identify the
intermediate compounds in the Calvin cycle, the light-independent
stage in photosynthesis.

Which compound would be the first to contain the 14C?

A. glucose
B. GP (PGA)
C. RuBP
D. triose phosphate

25. Intact mitochondria are mixed with a solution containing DCPIP,

succinate and sucrose. The enzyme succinate dehydrogenase in the
mitochondria oxidizes the succinate and the DCPIP is a hydrogen
acceptor.

Why is the sucrose added to the reaction medium?

A. to act as a hydrogen donor

B. to act as a reducing agent
C. to maintain the osmotic balance
 D. to provide energy for the reaction

26. Which of the following is a molecule formed in metabolic pathways

by the equal splitting of a phosphorylated hexose into two halves?

A. acetyl coenzyme A
B. fructose 1, 6-bishphosphate
C. ribulose bisophosphate (RuBP)
D. triose phosphate

27. The diagram shows the reversible conversion of pyruvate to lactate by

the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase.

What would be the effect of inhibition of lactate dehydrogenase in a

mammalian cell under anaerobic conditions?

A. a decrease in cell pH, due to the accumulation of lactic acid

B. a decrease in glycolysis, due to the lack of NAD
C. an increase in ATP production, due to increased amounts of
reduced NAD
D. an increase in activity of the Krebs cycle, due to increased
amounts of pyruvate

28. The diagram shows some of the stages of respiration.

Which molecule contains four carbon atoms?

29. What is the function of nitrifying bacteria in the soil?

A. oxidation of ammonium compounds in nitrates

B. oxidation of nitrogen gas in nitrages
C. reduction of ammonium compounds in nitrates
D. reduction of nitrates to nitrites

30. The table shows two measurements of production in birch and pine
forests in England.

Type of forest Production of organic Carbon dioxide fixation

matter/tones per unit area per during growing season /
year grammes of carbon fixed
per unit area per day
Birch 8.5 2.2
Pine 16.0 2.0

What is the most likely reason for the higher annual production of the
pine forest?

A. Pine trees have a faster daily rate of photosynthesis than birch

trees.
B. Pine trees have a larger total leaf surface than birch trees.
C. Pine trees have a longer growing season than birch trees.
D. Pine trees have a lower light compensation point than birch
trees.

31. The graph shows the annual changes in a lake of the following factors.

Numbers of producers
Numbers of primary consumers
Quantity of nutrients
Intensity of light

What curve represents the numbers of primary consumers?

32. What proportion of the stored chemical energy in grass is converted
into new tissue by a growing cow?

A. between 0.02% and 2%

B. between 0.2% and 2%
C. between 2% and 20%
D. between 20% and 50%

33.

What does the above figure represent?

A. a pyramid of biomass based on seeds consumed by the primary

consumers
B. a pyramid of numbers illustrating a rapid rate of reproduction
among consumers
C. a pyramid of energy in which the secondary and tertiary
consumers are decomposers
D. a pyramid of numbers in which fleas and bacteria are living
parasitically

34. A farmer wants to encourage the beneficial bacterial reactions

involved in the nitrogen cycle in wheat fields.

Which method should the farmer use?

A. adding artificial nitrate fertiliser

B. draining waterlogged fields
C. growing the same crop every year
D. irrigating fields
35. A researcher who wants to study the composition of a plant’s sap.
Inserts a capillary tube into the phloem.

What causes the sap to flow out of the tube?

A. capillarity
B. hydrostatic pressure
C. root pressure
D. transpiration stream

36. The following events occur during the cardiac cycle.

1 activation of atrioventricular node
2 activation of sinoatrial node
3 closure of atrioventricular valves
4 closure of smilunar valves
In which order do these events occur?

first → last
A 1 2 3 4
B 1 3 2 4
C 2 1 3 4
D 2 1 4 3

37. The graph shows the oxygen dissociation curve for haemoglobin at
pH 7.6 and at pH 7.2.

Which point on the graph shows the percentage saturation of

haemoglobin in the blood leaving an active muscle?

38. What enables the mammalian kidney to regulate water reabsorption?

A. extraction of water from the glomerular filtrate

 B. increased excretion of urea in the distal tubule
C. increased permeability of the collecting ducts
D. maintenance of a low solute concentration around collecting
ducts

39. Which function is carried out by the hormone insulin?

A. It breaks down blood glucose.

B. It catalyses the condensation of glucose to form glycogen.
C. It enables glucose to enter cells.
D. It prevents glucose from being excreted by the kidney.

40. The diagram shows a synapse.

In people with low blood calcium levels, which structures will be

unable to fuse?

A. 1 and 2 B. 2 and 3 C. 2 and 4 D. 3 and 4