Biology Exam 2 Study Questions
In the phylogenetic trees shown, each number represents a unique species of organisms. Which two species are represented as sister species in Tree 2 but are not represented as sister species in Tree 1?
3 and 4
If organisms 1, 2, and 3 belong to the same class but to different orders and if organisms 3, 4, and 5 belong to the same order but to different families, which of the following pairs of organisms would be expected to show the greatest degree of morphological homology?
4 and 5
At which time can the recipient cell first be described as "recombinant"?
A
If the early history of life on Earth is accurately depicted by the figure, then which statement is most in agreement with the hypothesis proposed by this tree?
A significant amount of horizontal gene transfer occurred early in the evolution of life.
Which domains have exhibited endosymbiosis?
Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya
Which of the following statements correctly describes both phototrophs and chemotrophs?
Chemotrophs obtain energy from chemicals and phototrophs obtain energy from light
Which of the following statements most accurately describes the evolution of chloroplasts?
Chloroplasts evolved from a common ancestor of Proteobacteria
Which of the following conclusions regarding the phylogeny of these organisms can be made from this tree?
D is more closely related to E than it is to G
In the figure, the letters A-G represent individual species that all descended from a common ancestor. Which of the following groups of these species forms a monophyletic group?
E, F, and G
Based on the data in the table, which phylogenetic tree is the most likely depiction of the evolutionary relationships among these five species?
E,B,C,D,A
These data would support which of the following conclusions?
Eukaryotes are more similar to archaea than to bacteria.
Which of the following statements correctly describes F- cells and F+ cells?
F+ cells function as DNA donors during conjugation and F- cells function as DNA recipients during conjugation
Which of the following statements best describes the rationale for applying the principle of maximum parsimony in constructing phylogenetic trees?
For trees based on morphology, the most parsimonious tree requires the fewest evolutionary events.
Which of the following statements is accurate, at least according to our present knowledge?
Genes from prokaryotes have been acquired by some eukaryotes; these genes can allow survival in extreme environments.
Which of the following statements about horizontal gene transfer is accurate?
Horizontal gene transfer is common in the evolution of life on Earth.
Which phylogenetic tree can best be used to support the claim that the microsporidians are a sister group of the cryptomycetes?
I
In which phylogenetic tree are the chytrids and ascomycetes shown as being more distantly related than in the other phylogenetic trees?
I (picture)
Which phylogenetic tree can best be used to support the claim that the microsporidians are a sister group of the cryptomycetes?
I (picture)
Which phylogenetic tree can best be used to show that the zygomycetes and chytrids are the most closely related?
III (switch cryptomycetes and chytrids AND switch zoopagomycetes and microsporidians)
Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic that targets prokaryotic ribosomes, but not eukaryotic ribosomes. Based on an understanding of eukaryotic origins, which of these questions might be a target for research on chloramphenicol from this observation?
If chloramphenicol inhibits prokaryotic ribosomes, should it not also inhibit mitochondrial ribosomes?
Which of these four gene parts should allow the construction of the most accurate phylogenetic tree, assuming that this is the only part of the gene that has acted as a reliable molecular clock?
Intron VI
How is the recipient cell different at time D than it was at time A?
It contains different genes.
Which of the following statements best describe the cell wall of this bacterium?
It has an outer membrane of lipopolysaccharide.
By examining the phylogenetic tree diagrammed in the figure, what conclusion can you draw about the species G. microti?
It is part of a monophyletic group that also includes G. intestinalis.
Which of the following statements is accurate with regard to a phylogeny, as represented by a phylogenetic tree?
Members of the same clade likely share many derived characters.
The kingdom Monera was dismantled because of which of the following reasons?
Monera contained organisms from other domains
In the below figure, which similarly inclusive taxon is represented as descending from the same common ancestor as Canidae?
Mustelidae
Which eukaryotic kingdom includes members that are the result of endosymbioses that included an ancient aerobic bacterium and an ancient cyanobacterium?
Plantae
Based on the tree below, which statement is correct?
Salamanders are a sister group to the group containing lizards, goats, and humans.
Which of the following statements is most consistent with the model of evolutionary relatedness represented in the phylogenetic tree?
Salamanders are a sister group to the group containing lizards, goats, and humans.
Which of the following statements about the bacteria is most probably accurate?
The bacterium is unable donate DNA through conjugation with another cell.
Which of the following statements is true?
The cell walls of archaea lack peptidoglycan.
The following phylogeny shows six living species (a-f) and five ancestral (now extinct) species (1-5). If the phylogeny had been developed on the basis of similarities in bone structure, which of the following predictions would you make in terms of the structure of a particular enzyme?
The enzymes of species b and c are more similar to ancestor 4 than to ancestor 2
Evolutionary biologists have developed a phylogeny for a group of mammals based on bone structure. Which of the following statements best predicts the phylogeny for the same group of mammals based on similarities and differences in the structure of a particular enzyme?
The phylogeny would be different than the phylogeny based on bone structure.
Which of the following statements about flagella provides the best support for the claim that the flagella from eukaryotes and bacteria evolved independently?
The protein structure and the mechanism of movement in eukaryotes flagella are different from those of bacteria flagella.
In the table, a Y indicates that the listed species possess trait 1, 2, or 3 and an N indicates that the listed species do not possess the trait. Given that phylogenies are based on shared derived characteristics, which of the following traits is useful in generating a phylogeny of species A, B, C, and D?
Trait 2
Three living species X, Y, and Z share a common ancestor T, as do extinct species U and V. A grouping that consists of species T, X, Y, and Z (but not U or V) makes up ________.
a paraphyletic group
Which of the following features permits a gene to act as a molecular clock?
a reliable average rate of mutation
In a comparison of birds and mammals, the condition of having four limbs is ________.
a shared ancestral character
In which type of classification system are names assigned only to groups that include a common ancestor and all of its descendants?
a system based entirely on evolutionary history
Use of synthetic fertilizers often leads to the contamination of groundwater with nitrates. Nitrate pollution is also a suspected cause of anoxic "dead zones" in the ocean. Which of the following processes is most likely to help reduce nitrate pollution?
adding denitrifying bacteria to the soil
Which of the following pairs of organisms form a sister group?
animals and fungi
Which of the following structures is most likely missing in a bacterium that regenerates from an endospore lacking any of the plasmids from the original cell?
antibiotic-resistant genes
From which taxon did mitochondria evolve?
bacteria
Which of the following involves metabolic cooperation among prokaryotic cells?
biofilms
Which of the following pairs is the best example of homologous structures?
bones in the bat wing and bones in the human forelimb
Eukaryotes that are not closely related and that do not share many anatomical similarities can still be placed together on the same phylogenetic tree. Which of the following approaches would be most appropriate for doing this?
by comparing their homologous genes that are highly conserved
The predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is able to penetrate a gram-negative bacterium that has a slimy cell covering. What is the correct sequence of structures penetrated by B. bacteriovorus on its way to the prey's cytoplasm?
capsule, lipopolysaccharide membrane, peptidoglycan, phospholipid membrane
For which of the following organisms would a phylogenetic tree constructed using sequence differences in mitochondrial DNA would be most valid for discerning their evolutionary relatedness?
chimpanzees and humans
To apply parsimony to constructing a phylogenetic tree, ________.
choose the tree that represents the fewest evolutionary changes, in either DNA sequences or morphology
Some beetles and flies have antler-like structures on their heads, much like male deer. The existence of antlers in beetle, fly, and deer species with strong male-male competition is an example of which of the following?
convergent evolution
Which of the following evolutionary processes or characteristics would most likely result in an archaean species whose rRNA is more similar to that of humans of mice?
convergent evolution
The figure represents a phylogenetic tree of birds and their closest relatives. Which group of organisms represents the outgroup in the clade that includes only crocodilians, ornithischian dinosaurs, saurischian dinosaurs, and birds?
crocodilians
Photosynthesis that releases O2 occurs in ________.
cyanobacteria
Which statement represents the best explanation for the observation that the nuclear DNA of wolves and domestic dogs has a very high degree of sequence homology?
dogs and wolves share a very recent common ancestor
Which of the following processes is responsible for the shape of the curve at time B?
entry of Hfr DNA into the recipient cell
Which of the following characteristics allows this bacterium to adhere to the intestinal lining?
fimbriae
Which of the following items is most likely to form a simple linear relationship with the number of gene-duplication events, when placed as the label on the vertical axis of the following graph?
genome size
Which of the following characteristics allows this bacterium to survive in a human who is taking penicillin pills?
gram-negative cell wall
Cyanobacteria were once called blue-green algae because they are photosynthetic. According to the phylogeny shown, to which of the following organisms are the cyanobacteria more closely related?
gram-positive bacteria
Which of the following statements explains why paralogous genes can diverge from each other within the same gene pool, whereas orthologous genes diverge only after gene pools are isolated from each other?
having an extra copy of a gene permits modifications to the copy without loss of the original gene product
Which of the following statements correctly describes paragalous genes in related species?
homology of the genes is a result of gene duplication
Humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are members of a clade called the great apes, which shared a common ancestor approximately 15 million years ago.Referring to the phylogenetic tree in the figure, which of the following pairs of apes are most closely related?
humans and Australopithecus
Regarding these sequence homology data, how would the principle of maximum parsimony be applicable in comparing them?
inferring evolutionary relatedness from the number of sequence differences
Photoautotrophs use ________.
light as an energy source and CO2 as a carbon source
The figure represents a phylogenetic tree of birds and their closest relatives. Which group of organisms represents the outgroup in this clade?
lizards and snakes
Which of the following statements describes a potential drawback for using molecular clocks to measure evolutionary time?
many genes are acted upon by natural selection
A process that cannot produce genetic variation in bacterial populations is ________.
meiosis
The lakes of northern Minnesota are home to many similar species of damselflies of the genus Enallagma. These species have apparently undergone speciation from ancestral stock since the last glacial retreat about 10 thousand years ago. Sequencing which of the following nucleic acids or proteins would probably be most useful in sorting out evolutionary relationships among these closely related species?
mitochondrial DNA
Which of the following information would be most useful in creating a phylogenetic tree of a taxon?
morphological data from fossil and living species
Which of the following processes would, if it had acted upon a gene, prevent this gene from acting as a reliable molecular clock?
natural selection
The cells in the cell line grown in low-glucose conditions showed the effects of which of the following processes?
natural selection and mutation
In which part of a bacterium is the complete chromosome found?
nucleoid
According to the phylogenetic tree in the figure above, what type of evolutionary group does G. intestinalis constitute?
paraphyletic
Carolus Linnaeus believed that species remained fixed in the form in which they had been created. Which of the following concepts are inconsistent with Linnaeus's model of classification?
phylogenies
Some bacteria possess antibiotic resistance, as well as the ability to survive through adverse conditions. Where in this type of bacteria is the DNA located?
plasmids, nucleoid, and endospore
Which of the following taxa are problematic when the goal is to construct phylogenies that accurately reflect evolutionary history?
polyphyletic taxa and paraphyletic taxa
Some molecular data place the giant panda in the bear family (Ursidae) but place the lesser panda in the raccoon family (Procyonidae). If the molecular data best reflect the evolutionary history of these two groups, then the morphological similarities of these two species is most likely due to which of the following processes?
possession of analogous (convergent) traits
What kind of evidence has recently made it necessary to assign the prokaryotes to either of two different domains, rather than assigning all prokaryotes to the same kingdom?
rRNA genes
If additional DNA sequence evidence shows that yeast genes for synthesizing proteins are more similar to protein-synthesizing genes in bacteria than those in archaea, what would a systematist do with the current phylogeny?
redraw the phylogeny to show eukaryotes sharing a more recent common ancestor with bacteria than archaea
Which two species contain more cytoplasmic phospholipid membranes than the others?
species 2 and 5
Species 4 is pathogenic if it gains access to the human intestine. Which other species, if it coinhabited a human intestine along with species 4, is most likely to become a recombinant species that is both pathogenic and resistant to some antibiotics?
species 3
Which species is capable of directed movement?
species 3
Which of the above species have a cell wall that consists partly of an outer membrane of lipopolysaccharide?
species 3, 4, and 5
Which species most likely includes cells that are Hfr cells?
species 4
Which of the following describes a bacterium that lives in the human intestine and causes disease?
symbiotic pathogen
The relative lengths of the frog and mouse branches in the phylogenetic tree in the figure indicate that ________.
the homolog evolved more slowly in the mouse lineage
The term convergent evolution is most applicable to which of the following characteristics?
the presence of an opposable thumb in humans and chimpanzees
Which of the following statements is the most likely result of conjugation involving a bacterium that contains a copy of a plasmid containing a gene for tetracycline resistance with one that does not?
the rapid spread of tetracycline resistance to other bacteria in the population
Birds and mammals have four limbs. Which of the following statements describes this trait?
the trait is a shared ancestral character
Which of the following claims is best supported by this phylogenetic tree?
the tree depicts an evolutionary hypothesis
Which of the following statements describes a difference between the taxonomic levels of the hierarchical classification system?
their inclusiveness
Scientists have hypothesized that the common ancestors of birds and mammals, possessed three-chambered hearts (two atria, one ventricle). Birds and mammals, however, are alike in having four-chambered hearts (two atria, two ventricles). Which of the following statements best describes the four-chambered hearts of birds and mammals?
they are morphological analogies
Jams, jellies, preserves, honey, and other foods with high sugar content hardly ever become contaminated by bacteria, even when the food containers are left open at room temperature. Which of the following statements best explains the inability of bacteria to survive in such an environment?
they undergo death as a result of water loss from the cell
E. coli cells typically make most of their ATP by metabolizing glucose. Under the conditions of this experiment, how would E. coli generation times in the experimental lines and low-glucose conditions be described?
they will be slower than in the typical environment
Your professor wants you to construct a phylogenetic tree of a type of plant called orchids. She gives you tissue from seven orchid species and one lily plant. What is the most likely reason she gave you the lily?
to serve as an outgroup
Which of the following processes leads to genetic recombination by the introduction of viral DNA into a bacterium?
transduction
If the experimental population of E. coli lacks an F factor or F plasmid, and if bacteriophages are excluded from the bacterial cultures, how would beneficial mutations be transmitted horizontally to other E. coli cells?
transformation
If you were using cladistics to build a phylogenetic tree of cats, which of the following organisms would be the best outgroup?
wolf
If you were using cladistics to build a phylogenetic tree of cats, which of the following would be the best outgroup?
wolf
