Chapter 1

1. Describe the bonding properties of G-C and T-A. Which base pair would be
harder to break apart? Why?
2. Several years after Griffith described the transforming principle, Avery ,
MacLoded, and McCarty investigated the same phenomenon.
a) List the steps they used to show that DNA from dead S.pneumoniae cells
was responsible for the change from virulent to a virulent state.
b) What was the role of enzymes in these experiments?
c) Did their work confirm or disconfirm Griffifths work, and how?
3. Explain why Hershey and Chase used isotopes of phosphorus and sulphur in
their experiments
4. Describe the structure of DNA and RNA. List the differences between them.
5. Who postulated the DNA double helix structure? List the main features of the
three -dimensional DNA model.
Chapter 2
1. What is cell division? And what is the importance of it?
2. With the aid of suitable diagrams, describe how crossing over occurs during
meiosis. Next, explain how crossing over contributes to genetic variation.
3. Compare & contrast the mitosis & meiosis
4. Compare cell division in animal and plant cells.
5. Explain the similarities and differences between homologous chromosomes.

Chapter 3
1. What is DNA replication? Give a summary of the sequence of steps in the
DNA replication.
2. With the aid of labeled diagram(s) , distinguish between the three models of
DNA replication.
3. Describe the stages involved transcription.
4. List THREE (3) ways in which transcription differs from translation.
5. Construct and discuss the Beadle & Tatum experiment with the aid of
labelled diagram.
Chapter 4
1. Explain Mendels law of segregation and law of independent assortment.
2. A dominant gene, L, produces short hair in rabbits and its recessive allele, l,
produce long hair. A group of heterozygous short hair rabbits are crosses and
their F1 progeny with short hair are then test-crossed. Determine the
expected genotypic and phenotypic rations among the test cross progeny.
3. In the fruit fly, drosophila melanogaster, the colour of the body and the
shape of wings are controlled by two different alleles. The allele for grey body

(G) is dominant over the allele for black body (g).while the allele for normal
wings (V) is dominant over the allele for vestigial wings (v).
(a) Draw the genetic crossing if a pure breed fly with grey body and normal
wings is crossed with a pure breed fly with black body and vestigial wings.
Determine the genotype and phenotype of F1 generation.
(b) In test cross between the F1 progeny and a fly that is homozygous
recessive for both traits, the following progeny are obtained:
Grey body, normal wings = 245
Grey body, vestigial wings = 60
Black body, normal wings = 58
Black body, vestigial wings = 236
i.
ii.
iii.

Draw the genetic diagram of the test cross above.

Based on the results of the test cross, what can you conclude about
the genes for the body colour and wing shapes?
Calculate the distance between the two genes.

4. Considering hybridization in a trait such as the color of the flowers of a given

plant species (red dominant/ yellow recessive) conditioned by a pair of
different alleles, what are the phenotypical results of the first generation (F1)
and the phenotypical results of the second generation (F2, formed by
crossing between F1 genotypes)? What are the proportions of phenotypes in
F1 and F2?
5. In Mendel's "Experiment 1," true-breeding pea plants with spherical seeds
were crossed with true-breeding plants with dented seeds. (Spherical seeds
are the dominant characteristic.) Mendel collected the seeds from this cross,
grew F1-generation plants, let them self-pollinate to form a second
generation, and analyzed the seeds of the resulting F2 generation. The
results that he obtained, and that you would predict for this experiment are:
Chapter 5
1.
In certain dog breed, the heterozygous genotype Hh produces a
hairless condition and hh produces normal dogs. The genotype HH will cause
lethality due to abnormalities of the mouth and ears. Give the ration of
hairless and normal offspring produced from a cross between (a) hairless x
hairless ; (b) normal x hairless.
2.
The ABO blood groups in humans are controlled by multiple allele of a
single autosomal gene. There are three allele represented by the symbols IA,
IB, and IO. Allele IA and IB are equally dominant and IO is recessive to both.
(a)
State all the possible genotype of blood groups A, B, AB and O.
(b)
If a group O man marries a group AB woman, state the possible blood
groups that their children could have,

(c)
State the possible blood groups of children whose parents are both
heterozygous; the father for blood group A and the mother for blood group B.
3.
A woman with blood group A accuses a man of blood group B as the
father of her child. The child is of blood group O.
(a)
Determine whether the man is the father of the child.
(b)
If he is the father, state the genotype of both parents.
(c)
If the man is of blood group AB, could he be the father of a group O
child?
4.
A cross between a white-eyed male fruit fly and red-eyed female,
results in all of the F1 generation having red eyes. The F1 are the self-crossed
producing the F2 generation with the ratio of 3 red-eyed flies to 1 white-eyed.
The red-eyed flies consist of a 2:1 ratio of females to males whereas all the
white-eyed flies are males.
(a)
State the dominant eye colour in this cross. Give reasons for your
answer.
(b)
State the mode of inheritance of eye colour.
(c)
Using suitable symbols, draw a cross diagram of this cross and its
reciprocal cross. State the genotype and phenotype ration of the F2
generation of the above cross and its reciprocal cross.
Chapter 6
1. What is the definition of mutation?
2. List and explain the types of chromosomal mutation.
3. List and explain the types of gene mutation.
4. Sickle cell anemia is type of disease whereby the red blood cells have the shape
of a crescent. Hence, less blood will be transported throughout the body.
Describe how sickle cell is formed.
5. Explain how and what happens if there is a dysfunction causing chromosome 21
to have one extra chromosome. State the characteristic of the person who has
this disease.
Chapter 7
1. If a population experiences no migration, is very large, has no mutations, has
random mating, and there is no selection, which of the following would you
predict?
2. In a population that is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of the
homozygous recessive genotype is 0.09. What is the frequency of individuals
that are homozygous for the dominant allele?
3. In humans, Rh-positive individuals have the Rh antigen on their red blood cells,
while Rh-negative individuals do not. If the Rh-positive phenotype is produced
by a dominant gene (A), and the Rh-negative phenotype is due to its recessive
allele (a), what is the frequency of the Rh-positive allele if 84% of a population is
Rh-positive?
4. The Hardy-Weinberg equation is useful for predicting the percent of a human
population that may be heterozygous carriers of recessive alleles for certain
genetic diseases. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a human metabolic disorder that

results in mental retardation if it is untreated in infancy. In the United States,

one out of approximately 10,000 babies is born with the disorder. Approximately
what percent of the population are heterozygous carriers of the recessive PKU
allele?
5. After graduation, you and 19 friends build a raft, sail to a deserted island, and
start a new population, totally isolated from the world. Two of your friends carry
(that is, are heterozygous for) the recessive of allele, which in homozygotes
causes cystic fibrosis.
a. Assuming that the frequency of this allele does not change as the population
grows, what will be the instance of cystic fibrosis on your island?
b. Cystic fibrosis births on the island is how many times greater than the original
mainland. The frequency of births on the mainland is 0.059%.
Chapter 8
1. In terms of lac operon regulation, what happens when E. coli is grown in
medium containing both glucose and lactose?
2. What does an operon consist of?
3. State and explain the four different possibilities condition for operation of lac
operon.