Biology Final Exam: STUDY GUIDE (2009)

The multiple choice section has been restricted to the material covered during the second semester starting with Chapter 11 on Genetics. Use the study guide to help you prepare for your exam.

This part of the test is worth 180 points!

Know these vocabulary words:

allelesamino acidmutationsgene pool

genesproteingenotypegene shuffling

traitsribosephenotypegenetic drift

homozygousdeoxyriboseBarr bodybinomial nomenclature

heterozygousglucosenondisjunctiontaxonomy

haploidcodonscolorblindnesscladogram

diploidanticodonsevolutiontaxon (taxa)

nucleotideoperonnatural selectionderived character

adeninepromoterdiversitymolecular clock

guaninerepressorfitnessdomain

cytosineHox genesadaptationphotoautotroph

thymineprokaryotefossilschemoautotroph

uracileukaryotevestigial structuresdecomposers

flagellapathogencapsidconjugation

binary fissiontoxinendosporeantibiotics

sterilizationrefrigerationdisinfectantsbacteriophage

Know these concepts:

  • The work of Gregor Mendel and what he showed about traits passing from one generation to the next
  • What is the principle of dominance?
  • How to draw and interpret Punnett squares
  • How does probability play a role in genetics?
  • What is the principle of independent assortment?
  • Explain each of the types of inheritance and give examples:
  • Strict dominant vs. recessive
  • Codominance
  • Incomplete dominance
  • Multiple alleles
  • Polygenic traits
  • Sex-linked traits
  • What happens during the process of crossing over?
  • What are linked genes and how are they inherited?
  • What are gene maps and how are they constructed?
  • What is the structure and composition of the DNA molecule?
  • What are the three parts of a nucleotide?
  • Describe the steps of protein synthesis
  • Compare and contrast DNA and RNA (include structure, types of nitrogen bases, etc)
  • What are the functions of the three types of DNA?
  • How are amino acids coded?
  • How does the lac operon work in E. coli?
  • How does gene regulation occur in eukaryotes?
  • Name and describe the many types of mutations
  • What are restriction enzymes and how do they work?
  • What is genetic engineering and how is it accomplished?
  • What is recombinant DNA?
  • How does the process of gel electrophoresis work and why is it useful?
  • What is transformation and how would you know if the transformation were successful?
  • What is a genetic marker and why is it important?
  • What is an advantage to using transgenic bacteria to make human proteins?
  • What is a karyotype and what does it show?
  • Compare and contrast the genetic make-up of a human make vs. a females
  • What is a pedigree good for?
  • How is DNA fingerprinting accomplished and why is the process useful?
  • What is the Human Genome Project?
  • What is gene therapy and why is it useful?
  • What were Darwin’s ideas and what was the name of the book he published?
  • What are the types of isolation that influence the breeding of organisms (geographic, etc.)
  • What is classification and why is it important to scientists?
  • Who was Carolus Linnaeus? What are his 7 taxa?
  • What is evolutionary classification?
  • What is cladistic analysis?
  • What is an evolutionary innovation?
  • What are the three domains and what types of organisms are in them?
  • What are the three types of bacterial shapes?
  • How are prokaryotes identified?
  • What is peptidoglycan?
  • What is the Gram staining process and what does it tell about bacteria?
  • What roles do bacteria play in the environment?
  • How do bacteria or viruses cause disease?
  • What is the process of nitrogen fixation and why is it important?
  • What is a bacterial infection and how is it caused?
  • Compare and contrast the lytic cycle with the lysogenic cycle
  • Describe the structure of a virus
  • Basic information from the CODE BLUE body systems project, especially the 60 questions

Be able to:

  • Make DNA, RNA and code for proteins from an original DNA template
  • Give examples of diseases caused by dominant, recessive and/or multiple alleles
  • Explain why many diseases are sex-linked and carried on the X chromosome
  • Tay-Sachs disease
  • Huntington’s disease
  • PKU
  • Others
  • Examples of other chromosomal diseases (Down Syndrome, etc.)
  • Give examples of animals in a variety of taxa (mammals, etc.)
  • Give some examples of diseases caused by bacteria
  • Give some examples of diseases caused by viruses
  • Give some examples of foods made with bacteria
  • Give some examples of sterilization methods
  • Give some examples of proper use of disinfectants

Biology Final Exam: Written Section STUDY GUIDE

The written portion contains the following sections. Be sure to complete all sections. The written part is worth 220 points.

Part A: Identification of Gram + and Gram – Bacteria

  • How would a Gram + and Gram – stained bacterium look under a microscope?
  • What role does peptidoglycan play in whether the bacterium stains + or -?

Part B: Enzymes and Reading a Graph

  • What are enzymes?
  • How do enzymes work to speed up chemical reactions?
  • Why is this important for the human body? (Remember body temperature is 37◦C)?
  • Be able to compare/graph the amount of enzyme and its effect in reaction rates

Part C: Graphing Types of Growth

  • What are logistic growth and exponential growth?
  • Describe the shape of the graph
  • Give examples of applications of both types of growth

Part D: Interpreting an Age-Structure Diagram

  • Describe a developed country vs. an undeveloped country
  • What kinds of factors are present that account for developed countries vs. undeveloped countries?
  • Give examples of developed and undeveloped countries

Part E: Identification of Plant/Animal Cells and Organelles

  • Name and give the functions of various organelles
  • How are plant and animal cells the same? Different?

Part F: Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration

  • What is each of these processes?
  • Give the correct equations for each of these processes?
  • How are P and CR opposite reactions?

Part G: Cell Growth/Division

  • What is the surface area vs. volume ratio?
  • What does this mean in terms of cell growth?
  • What problems does a cell have if it grows too large? How does it fix the situation?
  • What happens at each stage of mitosis?

Part H: Genetics

  • Drawing and interpreting Punnett Squares
  • Simple dominant vs. recessive
  • Incomplete dominance
  • Multiple alleles (Blood groups)
  • Sex-linked traits
  • What happens at each stage of meiosis? How does Telophase II differ in human males and human females?
  • DNA and RNA
  • Protein synthesis
  • Coding DNA and RNA from a specific DNA template
  • Coding amino acids from RNA
  • Mutations
  • What are the types of mutations?
  • If a mutation is inserted into a sequence of DNA, how does it change the amino acids?
  • Reading a pedigree

Part I: Classification – Using a Dichotomous Key

  • What is a dichotomous key?
  • Why is it useful?
  • How is a dichotomous key used to identify organisms?