Genetics Practice Questions

Name: Date:

1. If Jessica has light eyes (bb) and both of her 3. In fruit ies, the allele for red eyes (R) is dominant
parents have dark eyes (Bb) which statement is and the allele for sepia eyes (r) is recessive. A
true? female y has red eyes. How can you determine
the female y's genotype?

A. Jessica inherited both genes from her father.

A. Mate the female with a male with red eyes.
B. Jessica inherited both genes from her mother. If any of the o spring have sepia eyes, she
must be RR.
C. Jessica inherited one recessive form of the
gene from each parent. B. Mate the female with a male with red eyes.
If any of the o spring have red eyes, she
D. Jessica inherited one dominant form of the must be Rr.
gene from each parent.
C. Mate the female with a male with sepia eyes.
If any of the o spring have sepia eyes, she
must be Rr.
D. Mate the female with a male with sepia eyes.
If any of the o spring have red eyes, she
must be RR.

2. The gure below shows a Punnet Square for an

inherited trait.

4. The diagram below represents a cross between two

pea plants.

The arrow is pointing to a circled genotype in

the square. What genotype does the circled “dd”
represent?

A. the genotype in the mother's egg

In pea plants, the allele for round seeds (R) is
B. the genotype that only the girls will inherit
dominant to the allele for oval seeds (r). In a cross
C. the genotype that any of the children could between the two plants above, what percentage of
inherit the o spring will have round seeds?

1
D. the genotype that exactly 4 of the children
will inherit A. 100% B. 75% C. 50% D. 25%

page 1
5. In pigeons, the allele for normal feathers (F) is 7. A particular allele in mice is lethal in homozygotes.
dominant to the allele for frizzy feathers (f). Heterozygotes, however, develop normally. Why
does this allele remain in the population?

A. Homozygous mice pass the allele to their

o spring.

B. The recessive allele is masked in

heterozygotes.

C. Natural selection selects for the homozygous

If a purebred, normal-feathered bird (FF) is individual with normal alleles.
crossed with a frizzy-feathered bird ( ), how many D. Natural selection selects against the
di erent feather phenotypes are possible in the heterozygous individual.
o spring?

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

8. If a human baby boy inherits a recessive allele

from his mother, in which circumstance would
he most likely show the trait coded for by the
recessive allele?

A. The baby inherits the dominant allele from

his father.
B. The allele is on an autosomal chromosome
and the baby is a twin.
6. Which of the following best describes the
inheritance of a sex-linked trait? C. The allele is on the X chromosome.

D. The allele is on the Y chromosome.

A. a recessive allele carried by females that
a ects only males

B. a dominant allele carried by females that

a ects only males

C. an allele carried on the Y chromosome that

can a ect both males and females 9. Which of the following traits could be passed
down (inherited) from parents?
D. an allele carried on an X chromosome that
can a ect males or females
A. Having blue eyes

B. Knowing how to ride a bicycle

C. Knowing how to read

D. Having short ngernails

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10. In pea plants, the allele for purple owers (F) is 12. Use the pedigree below to answer the following
dominant to the allele for white owers (f) A cross question.
between two plants produces 306 o spring with
purple owers and 95 o spring with white owers

What are the genotypes of the parent plants?

A. FF and B. FF and Ff

C. Ff and D. Ff and Ff

Which cross provides conclusive evidence that

short ngers are recessive to long ngers?

A. the cross between individuals 1 and 2

11. Hemophilia is an X-linked recessive trait. In a B. the cross between individuals 3 and 4
family, the father is una ected and the mother
carries only one recessive allele. C. the cross between individuals 5 and 6

Which outcome is expected for their o spring? D. the cross between individuals 7 and 8

A. All of the male o spring would be a ected,

B. Half of the male o spring would be a ected.

C. All of the female o spring would be a ected.

D. Half of the female o spring would be

a ected.

page 3 Genetics Practice Questions

13. The pedigree below shows the occurrence of 15. In pea plants, the genes for seed color and seed
Becker muscular dystrophy in a family. Becker shape are on di erent chromosomes. Which of the
muscular dystrophy causes muscle weakness. following explains why the genes for these traits
are not inherited together?

A. natural selection

B. arti cial selection

C. the law of segregation

D. the law of independent assortment

Based on this pedigree, it is most reasonable to

conclude that Becker muscular dystrophy is which
of the following?

A. a polygenic trait

B. a codominant trait

C. a sex-linked recessive trait

D. an autosomal dominant trait

16. A pedigree showing the inheritance of a gold
dorsal stripe pattern in ball pythons is shown
below.

14. Which of the following terms applies to traits,

According to the pedigree, what type of trait is
such as human eye color, that are controlled by
this stripe pattern in ball pythons?
more than one gene?

A. codominant B. polygenic
A. codominant B. polygenic
C. recessive D. sex-linked
C. recessive D. sex-linked

page 4 Genetics Practice Questions

17. Two chromosome pairs from a diploid organism 18. In dogs, brown fur (B) is dominant to white fur
are shown below. (b). A dog has a litter of 12 puppies of which
6 are brown and 6 are white. Which of these
Punnett squares shows the cross that occurred?

A.

Assuming meiosis and fertilization occur normally,

which of the following pairs of alleles can an B.
o spring receive from this parent?

A. A and A B. A and a

C. A and f D. F and F

C.

D.

page 5 Genetics Practice Questions

19. Which of these is an example of a heterozygous
genotype?

A. Rr B. RR

C. wrinkled D. round

22.

A woman with Type AB blood marries a man

with Type B blood. According to the Punnett
square, their children could have each of these
blood types execpt—
20. The phenotype of an animal depends most directly
on—
A. Type A. B. Type B.

A. how the genes of the animal are expressed. C. Type AB. D. Type O.

B. the metabolic rate of the animal.

C. the source of the animal's food.

D. how many cells are in the animal's body.

23. Œ
21. A gardener planted red owering plants in a
garden. He crossed the red owers with white
owers, and the o spring owers were pink. This
is an example of—

The trait for ower color in the plants shown

A. A incomplete dominance. above is controlled by incomplete dominance.
What percent of the o spring will have pink
B. sex linkage. owers?
C. multiple alleles.
A. 0% B. 25% C. 50% D. 100%
D. homozygous inheritance.

page 6 Genetics Practice Questions

24. A student is studying the inheritance of human 26. A mutation in which of the following types
blood types. Types A and B are codominant of cells could be passed on to an organism's
and O is recessive to both. o spring?

If a woman with blood type A and a man with

blood type B would have children, what would be A. blood B. egg
the largest expected percentage for o spring with
blood type O? C. muscle D. nerve

A. 0% B. 25% C. 50% D. 100%

27. Leaves from two white clover plants, each with a

di erent pattern, are shown below.

Plant 1 Plant 2
Chevron pattern Oval pattern

25. The diagram below shows the chromosomes from

a cell after they were photographed under a
microscope.

The leaf patterns are genetically determined by

alleles of a single gene. Plant 1 is homozygous
for the chevron allele. Plant 2 is homozygous for
the oval allele. The chevron and oval alleles are
codominant.

If plant 1 and plant 2 are crossed, the codominance

of the alleles will most likely result in which of
Which of the following questions may best be the following leaf patterns on the o spring plants?
answered by studying an organism's chromosomes?
A. B.
A. What sex is the organism?

B. Is the organism endangered?

C. Where is the organism's ecosystem?

C. D.
D. How does the organism obtain its food?

page 7 Genetics Practice Questions

28. Height is a polygenic trait in humans. Which of 30. The diagram below shows the X chromosomes in
the following statements best explains the genetics a female fruit y and the X and Y chromosomes
of this trait? in a male fruit y.

Female Male
A. Height is controlled by more than one gene.

B. Height is controlled by a single dominant

gene.

C. The gene for height is located on the

X chromosome.
D. The gene for height is located on the
Y chromosome.

X X X Y

The two fruit ies are crossed with each other.

The female o spring of the fruit ies will receive
which pair of chromosomes?

A. B. C. D.
29. The table below shows the genotypes that result in
four di erent blood types in humans.

Genotype Blood Type

IA IA , IA i A
IB IB , IB i B
IA IB AB
ii O

Based on the information in the table, which of

the following describes alleles IA and IB ? 31. Which of the following laws or principles states
that the two alleles of a gene pair separate during
gamete formation?
A. The IA and IB alleles show sex linkage.

B. The IA allele is recessive to the IB allele. A. law of segregation

C. The IA allele is dominant to the IB allele. B. principle of linkage

C. principle of dominance
D. The IA and IB alleles show codominance.
D. law of independent assortment

page 8 Genetics Practice Questions

32. The distribution of chromosomes in one type of 33.
cell division is shown in the diagram below.

The diagram above shows homologous

chromosomes during prophase I of meiosis. Which
Which process and type of resulting cells are of the following correctly describes the process
represented in the diagram? being illustrated?

A. mitosis, which produces gametes A. mutation in which the DNA content of the
gene is altered
B. mitosis, which produces body cells
B. segregation of sister chromatids
C. meiosis, which produces gametes
C. condensation and segregation of alleles
D. meiosis, which produces body cells
D. crossing-over in which alleles are exchanged

34. Which of the following sequences represents

chromosome number during fertilization?

A. n + n ! 2n B. 2n ! n + n

C. n!n D. 2n ! 2n

page 9 Genetics Practice Questions

35. The table below lists the typical diploid number of 37. If an intestinal cell in a butter y contains 24
chromosomes of several di erent organisms. chromosomes, a butter y egg cell would contain

A. 3 chromosomes. B. 6 chromosomes.

C. 12 chromosomes. D. 24 chromosomes.

38. The picture below shows the chromosomes of a

Which of the following is the best explanation for human.
why the chromosome number is an even number
in each of these organisms?

A. It is only a coincidence; many other organisms

have an odd number of chromosomes.
B. The diploid chromosome number is always
even so that when mitosis occurs each new
cell gets the same number of chromosomes.

C. The diploid chromosome number represents

pairs of chromosomes, one from each parent,
so it is always an even number.

D. Chromosomes double every time the cell

divides, so after the rst division, the number
is always even.

36. Mendel hypothesized that reproductive cells have What caused the chromosomal alteration in
only one factor for each inherited trait. This number 21?
hypothesis is supported by the observation that
A. part of one chromosome attached to another
A. haploid cells are produced by mitosis. chromosome (translocation)

B. diploid cells are produced by mitosis. B. some of the genes on a chromosome were
reversed (inversion)
C. haploid cells are produced by meiosis.
C. a duplicated chromosome failed to separate
D. diploid cells are produced by meiosis. (nondisjunction)

D. a part of a chromosome was lost (deletion)

page 10 Genetics Practice Questions

39. Which statement describes asexual and sexual 40. Which of these situations is an example of asexual
reproduction? reproduction?

A. Asexual is one part of sexual reproduction. A. Two organisms mate to produce o spring.

B. Sexual reproduction happens before asexual. B. Specialized cells divide to produce gametes.

C. Asexual needs one parent, and sexual needs C. Crossbreeding of plants produces new
two parents. varieties.

D. Sexual happens only in animals, and asexual D. A single-celled organism divides to produce
happens only in plants. o spring.

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Genetics Practice Questions 05/27/2015

1. 21.
Answer: C Answer: A
2. 22.
Answer: C Answer: D
3. 23.
Answer: C Answer: D
4. 24.
Answer: B Answer: B
5. 25.
Answer: A Answer: A
6. 26.
Answer: D Answer: B
7. 27.
Answer: B Answer: C
8. 28.
Answer: C Answer: A
9. 29.
Answer: A Answer: D
10. 30.
Answer: D Answer: A
11. 31.
Answer: B Answer: A
12. 32.
Answer: C Answer: C
13. 33.
Answer: C Answer: D
14. 34.
Answer: B Answer: A
15. 35.
Answer: D Answer: C
16. 36.
Answer: C Answer: C
17. 37.
Answer: C Answer:
18. 38.
Answer: Answer: C
19. 39.
Answer: A Answer: C
20. 40.
Answer: A Answer: D