NEET Biology Principles of Inheritance and Variation MCQs Set 08

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) for NEET Biology: Principles of Inheritance and Variation

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Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1: Which of the following statements about the gene which affects more than one phenotype is correct?
(a) It is called a holandric gene
(b) It is called a pleiotropic gene
(c) It is called a linked gene
(d) It is called a multiple allele
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (b) It is called a pleiotropic gene

Explanation:
1. A single gene that influences several phenotypic traits (for example the gene for phenylketonuria or sickle-cell anaemia) is pleiotropic.

Teacher's Note:
1. Pleiotropy: one gene, many effects.

Question 2: Mendelian recombinants (new combinations of characters in the F2 of a dihybrid cross) arise due to
(a) independent assortment
(b) crossing over
(c) mutation
(d) linkage
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (a) independent assortment

Explanation:
1. Independent assortment of genes on different chromosomes during gamete formation produces new combinations of parental traits.

Teacher's Note:
1. Recombinants from crossing over arise from linked genes, not Mendel's genes.

Question 3: Mendel conducted his hybridisation experiments on
(a) Drosophila melanogaster
(b) Antirrhinum
(c) Mirabilis jalapa
(d) garden pea, Pisum sativum
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (d) garden pea, Pisum sativum

Explanation:
1. Mendel used garden pea, a self-pollinating plant with many contrasting traits, and carried out artificial cross-pollination.

Teacher's Note:
1. Pisum sativum is naturally self-pollinating.

Question 4: Alleles of a gene are located on
(a) non-homologous chromosomes
(b) different loci of the same chromosome
(c) identical (homologous) loci of homologous chromosomes
(d) the sex chromosomes only
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (c) identical (homologous) loci of homologous chromosomes

Explanation:
1. Two alleles of a gene occupy the same locus on a pair of homologous chromosomes.

Teacher's Note:
1. Alleles are alternative forms of the same gene.

Question 5: A true-breeding line is one that
(a) always shows variation
(b) after continuous self-pollination shows stable trait inheritance for several generations
(c) is produced by cross-pollination only
(d) is heterozygous for all traits
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (b) after continuous self-pollination shows stable trait inheritance for several generations

Explanation:
1. True breeding (pure line) lines are homozygous, so the trait is expressed the same way in every generation.

Teacher's Note:
1. Mendel first raised true-breeding lines for 2 years.

Question 6: How many contrasting pairs of characters did Mendel study in pea?
(a) Seven
(b) Five
(c) Nine
(d) Twelve
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (a) Seven

Explanation:
1. He chose seven true-breeding pairs, such as tall/dwarf, round/wrinkled seeds and yellow/green seeds.

Teacher's Note:
1. Each character has two contrasting traits.

Question 7: In a test cross, the F1 hybrid is crossed with
(a) a homozygous dominant parent
(b) another F1 hybrid
(c) a heterozygous parent
(d) a homozygous recessive parent
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (d) a homozygous recessive parent

Explanation:
1. The test cross reveals the genotype of the dominant-phenotype individual, as the recessive parent produces only one type of gamete.

Teacher's Note:
1. A 1:1 progeny ratio shows the test plant was heterozygous.

Question 8: Law of segregation is based on the fact that
(a) genes are linked
(b) alleles are always codominant
(c) alleles do not show any blending and both characters are recovered in the F2
(d) all genes assort independently
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (c) alleles do not show any blending and both characters are recovered in the F2

Explanation:
1. The two factors of a pair remain unchanged and separate into different gametes, so the recessive trait reappears in F2.

Teacher's Note:
1. Gametes are always pure for a character.

Question 9: Emasculation in plants means
(a) removal of the stigma
(b) removal of anthers from a bisexual flower
(c) removal of the ovary
(d) removal of the petals
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (b) removal of anthers from a bisexual flower

Explanation:
1. Emasculation removes stamens (anthers) before they dehisce, preventing self-pollination in the female parent. It is done with forceps in a bisexual flower.

Teacher's Note:
1. Bagging follows emasculation.

Question 10: Pisum sativum reproduces by
(a) self-pollination (sexual reproduction)
(b) asexual reproduction only
(c) apomixis
(d) vegetative propagation only
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (a) self-pollination (sexual reproduction)

Explanation:
1. Pea flowers are bisexual and self-pollinating, but reproduction is sexual through seeds.

Teacher's Note:
1. Mendel used this natural self-pollination to obtain pure lines.

Question 11: Choose the correct statement about Drosophila as a genetic material.
(a) It completes its life cycle in four weeks
(b) It has very few visible variations
(c) Males and females look identical
(d) It completes its life cycle in about two weeks and a single mating gives a large number of progeny
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (d) It completes its life cycle in about two weeks and a single mating gives a large number of progeny

Explanation:
1. Drosophila has a short generation time (about two weeks), produces many offspring per mating, shows many hereditary variations visible under low-power microscope and has clear sexual dimorphism.

Teacher's Note:
1. These features made it Morgan's choice.

Question 12: Sickle-cell anaemia is inherited as
(a) an X-linked recessive trait
(b) a Y-linked trait
(c) an autosomal recessive trait
(d) an autosomal dominant trait
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (c) an autosomal recessive trait

Explanation:
1. The sickle-cell gene is on an autosome (chromosome 11) and the disease appears only in the homozygous recessive state.

Teacher's Note:
1. Haemophilia, in contrast, is X-linked.

Question 13: Which of the following is an X-linked recessive disorder?
(a) Sickle-cell anaemia
(b) Colourblindness
(c) Thalassaemia
(d) Phenylketonuria
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (b) Colourblindness

Explanation:
1. Red-green colour blindness and haemophilia are X-linked recessive; the others are autosomal.

Teacher's Note:
1. Males are affected more often as they have only one X.

Question 14: Haemophilia in a girl is extremely rare because
(a) her mother must be at least a carrier and her father must be haemophilic
(b) it is a Y-linked disease
(c) it is an autosomal dominant disease
(d) it needs three affected alleles
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (a) her mother must be at least a carrier and her father must be haemophilic

Explanation:
1. A girl must receive the recessive allele on both X chromosomes, one from each parent.

Teacher's Note:
1. Carrier mother x affected father gives 50 per cent affected daughters.

Question 15: The disease which shows transmission from an unaffected carrier female to some of the male progeny is
(a) autosomal dominant
(b) Y-linked
(c) autosomal recessive
(d) sex-linked recessive
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (d) sex-linked recessive

Explanation:
1. A carrier mother passes the recessive X to her sons, who express the trait.

Teacher's Note:
1. This pattern is called criss-cross inheritance.

Question 16: Grasshopper has which type of sex determination?
(a) XY type
(b) ZW type
(c) XO type
(d) haplodiploid
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (c) XO type

Explanation:
1. Grasshopper females are XX and males are XO (one X only), so half the sperms carry X and half have no sex chromosome.

Teacher's Note:
1. Birds show ZW type.

Question 17: Holandric genes are located on the
(a) X chromosome
(b) Y chromosome
(c) autosomes
(d) mitochondrial DNA
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (b) Y chromosome

Explanation:
1. Genes present only on the Y chromosome (differential region) are holandric and pass from father to son.

Teacher's Note:
1. Hypertrichosis of the ear is an example.

Question 18: The chromosomal theory of inheritance was proposed by
(a) Sutton and Boveri
(b) Morgan and Bridges
(c) Mendel and Correns
(d) Watson and Crick
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (a) Sutton and Boveri

Explanation:
1. Sutton and Boveri noted that chromosomes show the same behaviour as Mendel's factors and united the two ideas.

Teacher's Note:
1. Morgan gave the experimental proof.

Question 19: Genes located on the same chromosome that are inherited together are called
(a) multiple alleles
(b) holandric genes
(c) pleiotropic genes
(d) linked genes
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (d) linked genes

Explanation:
1. All the genes on a single chromosome form a linkage group.

Teacher's Note:
1. Linkage reduces independent assortment.

Question 20: The human ABO blood group is controlled by gene
(a) A
(b) IA only
(c) I
(d) H
Show Answer & Explanation

Answer: (c) I

Explanation:
1. Gene I has three alleles IA, IB and i, controlling the ABO blood groups.

Teacher's Note:
1. Three alleles but any individual carries only two.

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