米CAT Biology : Mendel and Inheritance Patterns

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for MCAT Biology

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Example Questions

Example Question #21 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

Some inherited diseases of the liver, including Wilson's Disease, are primarily or entirely genetically determined. Wilson's Disease results when a defect in a copper transporter in the small intestine occurs, leading to copper build up in gastrointestinal enterocytes. If Wilson's Disease is a Mendelian disease with autosomal recessive inheritance, what are the chances that a child of two carriers will be affected?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Autosomal recessive inheritance means that in order for the Wilson's Disease phenotype to display, the person must have two copies of the mutated gene. If we represent the dominant, wild type allele as, and the mutant, recessive allele as, we can calculate the chance that a child of two carriers (each) will have Wilson's Disease ().

Using a Punnett square, we can predict the offspring of the two carrier parents.

Child 1:; wild type

Child 2:; wild type

Child 3:; wild type

Child 4:; Wilson's disease

The chance of a child being affected is one in four. The 1:2:1 genotypic ratio should be familiar to students for heterozygous crosses.

Example Question #22 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

Pea plants have two independently assorted genes that code for seed shape (round or wrinkled) and seed color (yellow or green), respectively. A researcher crosses two pea plants and observes that all F1 offspring have the same phenotype: round shape and yellow seeds. He then performs a test cross with an F1 offspring and observes four different phenotypes in a 1:1:1:1 ratio. Based on this information the researcher concludes the genotypes of the parents.

Which of the following is true regarding a recessive allele?

Possible Answers:

In a heterozygous offspring the dominant allele is expressed and the recessive allele is suppressed

In a heterozygous offspring both the dominant and recessive alleles are expressed, but dominant allele is expressed more frequently

In a heterozygous offspring the dominant and the recessive alleles are on the same chromosome

In a homozygous recessive offspring both recessive alleles are on the same chromosome

Correct answer:

In a heterozygous offspring the dominant allele is expressed and the recessive allele is suppressed

Explanation:

A Mendelian gene generally has two types of alleles: dominant and recessive. An individual always contains two sets of chromosomes (homologous chromosomes) that contain the gene. If both chromosomes contain a dominant allele, then the dominant trait is expressed. If both contain the recessive allele, then the recessive trait is expressed.

If an individual carries both alleles (a heterozygous individual), then only the dominant trait is observed. This occurs because the recessive allele is silenced and is not expressed in the presence of a dominant allele. If the recessive allele is expressed in conjunction with the dominant allele, then it is called incomplete dominance. In normal heterozygous genes, however, the recessive allele is not expressed.

Each chromosome carries only one copy of each gene, and cannot accommodate two alleles for a single trait.

Example Question #23 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

Pea plants have two independently assorted genes that code for seed shape (round or wrinkled) and seed color (yellow or green), respectively. A researcher crosses two pea plants and observes that all F1 offspring have the same phenotype: round shape and yellow seeds. He then performs a test cross with an F1 offspring and observes four different phenotypes in a 1:1:1:1 ratio. Based on this information the researcher concludes the genotypes of the parents.

Which of the following is the correct pairing of recessive alleles?

Possible Answers:

Round and green

Wrinkled and yellow

Wrinkled and green

Round and yellow

Correct answer:

Wrinkled and green

Explanation:

The passage states that the F1 generation only had round, yellow seeds. Test crossing an F1 offspring lead to an equal ratio of four different phenotypes. When you test cross, you are crossing the F1 offspring with a homozygous recessive individual; therefore, the test cross individual had recessive seed shape and seed color.

????xaabb

If round and yellow were recessive, then the F2 offspring would all be round and yellow (because you would cross round/yellow with round/yellow).

aabbxaabb(all offspring round and yellow)

If only round was recessive then you wouldn’t get any wrinkled seeds in F2 generation; similarly, if only yellow was recessive then you wouldn’t get any green seeds.

Aabbxaabb(all offspring have one recessive trait,bb)

If round and yellow are both dominant, then means that wrinkled and green are recessive. If the F1 offspring is heterozygous for both traits, then we can see the observed ratios from the test cross.

AaBbxaabb

1AaBb(round/yellow), 1aaBb(wrinkled/yellow), 1Aabb(round/green), 1aabb(wrinkled/green)

We can conclude that green and wrinkled must be recessive to yellow and round.

Example Question #24 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

Consider a plant with the following characteristics.

Round leaves (R) are dominant to pointed leaves (r).

White flowers (W) are dominant to pink flowers (w).

Plants heterozygous for both traits are crossed.

What is the probability of obtaining a plant with pointed leaves and pink flowers?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The scenario described is a dihybrid cross. Draw a Punnett Square for the scenario, and identify the frequency of obtaining the genotype (wwrr), which is the only genotype that will display both recessive traits.

Punnett_square_9

You should be familiar with the ratios represented in a dihybrid cross: 9:3:3:1. There will be nine inidividuals with both dominant traits (pointed leaves and white flowers), three individuals dominant for one trait (round leaves and pink flowers), three individuals dominant for the other trait (pointed leaves and white flowers), and only one individual recessive for both traits (pointed leaves and pink flowers).

Example Question #25 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

Consider a plant with the following characteristics.

Round leaves (R) are dominant to pointed leaves (r).

White flowers (W) are dominant to pink flowers (w).

Plants heterozygous for both traits are crossed.

What is the probability of obtaining a plant with pointed leaves and white flowers?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The genotype to obtain pointed leaves is rr, while the genotypes to obtain white flowers are WW or Ww. Determine the frequence of obtaining WWrr or Wwrr using a Punnett Square.

Punnett_square_10

You should be familiar with the ratios represented in a dihybrid cross: 9:3:3:1. There will be nine inidividuals with both dominant traits (pointed leaves and white flowers), three individuals dominant for one trait (round leaves and pink flowers), three individuals dominant for the other trait (pointed leaves and white flowers), and only one individual recessive for both traits (pointed leaves and pink flowers).

Example Question #26 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

Assume that a trait is expressed according to the mechanism of complete dominance. Each gene contributes one of two possible alleles. Which of the following statements is true?

Possible Answers:

If two heterozygous organisms mate, 75% of the progeny will display the dominant phenotype

There are three possible phenotypes the organism can express

The genotype is the expressed trait of the individual

If two heterozygous organisms mate, 25% of the progeny will be homozygous

Correct answer:

If two heterozygous organisms mate, 75% of the progeny will display the dominant phenotype

Explanation:

If a trait is expressed by complete dominance, the dominant allele will be expressed over the recessive allele. The only time that the recessive trait is expressed is when the organism has two recessive alleles. The genotype is the genetic makeup of an organism, while the phenotype is the physical expression of a trait.

Since there are only two alleles for the trait, there are two distinct phenotypes that the organism can express. A Punnett square reveals that two heterozygous organisms will yield a progeny with 75% displaying the dominant phenotype. 50% of the progeny will be heterozygous, and the other half will be homozygous.

Aa x Aa

Child 1: AA (homozygous, dominant)

Child 2: Aa (heterozygous, dominant)

Child 3: Aa (heterozygous, dominant)

Child 4: aa (homozygous, recessive)

Example Question #27 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

A condition is known to be X-linked dominant. An affected man and unaffected woman have a son. What is the likelihood that the son will be affected?

Possible Answers:

The son will be affected

There is a one in two chance that the son will be affected

The son cannot be affected

There is a three in four chance that the son will be affected

There is a one in four chance the son will be affected

Correct answer:

The son cannot be affected

Explanation:

男人带着一个x染色体和一个y染色体,while females carry two X-chromosomes. A son, by necessity, must inherit a Y-chromosome from the father and an X-chromosome from the mother. In this case, the affected father cannot possibly transfer his allele to the son because the condition is linked to the X-chromosome. We also know that the trait is X-linked dominant and that the mother is unaffected; since the trait is dominant, she cannot possible be a carrier, and must have two copies of the wild type allele. As a result, the son must inherit a Y-chromosome from the father and a wild type X-chromosome from the mother. The son cannot possibly be affected.

Example Question #28 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

A certain type of plant is only tall when it has a heterozygous genotype. If two heterozygous plants are crossed, what is the probability their offspring will also be tall?

Possible Answers:

50%

75%

25%

100%

0%

Correct answer:

50%

Explanation:

The cross between two heterozygous plants (Tt and Tt) will result in 25% TT, 50% Tt and 25% tt.

Example Question #29 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

Prionsare the suspected cause of a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases in mammals. According to prevailing theory, prions are infectious particles made only of protein and found in high concentrations in the brains of infected animals. All mammals produce normal prion protein, PrPC, a transmembrane protein whose function remains unclear.

Infectious prions, PrPRes, induce conformational changes in the existing PrPCproteins according to the following reaction:

PrPC+ PrPRes→ PrPRes+ PrPRes

The PrPResis then suspected to accumulate in the nervous tissue of infected patients and cause disease. This model of transmission generates replicated proteins, but does so bypassing the standard model of the central dogma of molecular biology. Transcription and translation apparently do not play a role in this replication process.

This theory is a major departure from previously established biological dogma. A scientist decides to test the protein-only theory of prion propagation. He establishes his experiment as follows:

Homogenized brain matter of infected rabbits is injected into the brains of healthy rabbits, as per the following table:

Rabbit 1 and 2: injected with normal saline on days 1 and 2

The above trials serve as controls.

兔子3和4:注射均质大脑马tter on days 1 and 2

The above trials use unmodified brain matter.

Rabbit 5 and 6: injected with irradiated homogenized brain matter on days 1 and 2

The above trials use brain matter that has been irradiated to destroy nucleic acids in the homogenate.

Rabbit 7 and 8: injected with protein-free centrifuged homogenized brain matter on days 1 and 2

The above trials use brain matter that has been centrifuged to generate a protein-free homogenate and a protein-rich homogenate based on molecular weight.

Rabbit 9 and 10: injected with boiled homogenized brain matter on days 1 and 2

The above trials use brain matter that have been boiled to destroy any bacterial contaminants in the homogenate.

Some patients have a predisposition to developing neurodegenerative disease due to genetic mutations in the PrPC gene. If a father knows that he has the mutation, but never develops the disease, and the mother knows she is not a carrier, what is the probability that their son will develop the disease? Assume that this disease follows simple Mendelian inheritance patterns.

Possible Answers:

50%

75%

0%

100%

25%

Correct answer:

25%

Explanation:

This is a simple Mendelian recessive trait. It must be recessive if the father is a carrier but never affected.

Example Question #30 :米endel And Inheritance Patterns

In peas, the gene for yellow color (C) is dominant to the gene for green color (c). To determine the genotype of an unknown yellow pea, what kind of pea should you cross with it?

Possible Answers:

Any genotype

It is impossible to determine

Homozygous recessive (cc) or known heterozygous (Cc)

Another unknown green pea

Homozygous dominant

Correct answer:

Homozygous recessive (cc) or known heterozygous (Cc)

Explanation:

我们不确定如果黄豌豆是受显性纯合子nant (CC) or heterozygous (Cc). Crossing it with a homozygous recessive (cc) green pea will yield only yellow peas if it is homozygous dominant, or a mix of green and yellow if it is heterozygous. We could also cross it with a known heterozygote, as we would see the same pattern as if we had crossed with a homozygous recessive.

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