10/18/26, 11:28 PM BIO310-FinalExam-Answers
1 Identify the molecule or structure described: a protein important in sperm motility.
Choose one answer. a. Bindin
b. Vitelline envelope
c. Cortical granules
d. Dynein
2 Identify the molecule or structure described: involved in the slow reaction against polyspermy in sea urchins.
Choose one answer. a. Bindin
b. Vitelline envelope
c. Cortical granules
d. Dynein
3 If you inactivated the glycoprotein ZP3 on a mouse oocyte, which of the following would be directly affected?
Choose one answer. a. The activation of egg metabolism
b. The primary binding of sperm to the zona pellucida
c. The secondary binding of sperm to the zona pellucida
d. The absorption of nutrients into the egg’s cytoplasm
4 If you were to reduce the amount of sodium available in the seawater around sea-urchin eggs, which of the following would be directly affected?
Choose one answer. a. The activation of egg metabolism
b. The slow reaction to prevent polyspermy
c. The fast reaction to prevent polyspermy
d. The binding of sperm and egg
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,10/18/26, 11:28 PM BIO310-FinalExam-Answers
5 The concept that sperm were “seeds” of life that were provided by the female with nutrients, but no other material, was an idea supported by whom?
Choose one answer. a. Hertwig and Fol
b. Leeuwenhoek
c. Aristotle
d. Both B and C
6 Which of the following is false in regards to chemotaxis?
Choose one answer. a. It is most important in species with external fertilization.
b. It involves chemicals that have powerful effects at very low concentrations.
c. It involves chemicals that are present in sperm at higher and higher doses as they mature.
d. It involves the creation of a concentration gradient.
7 Which of the following observations would support the preformationist view of how embryos develop?
Choose one answer. a. The blood vessels of chicks form before the heart.
b. The intestinal tube forms by the folding of tissue that was once flat.
c. Each generation organisms are created anew.
d. Embryonic organs develop from different tissues than their adult counterparts.
8 Which of these discoveries was not made until the late 1800s?
Choose one answer. a. Fertilization occurs as a fusion of a sperm and an egg.
b. Cleavage occurs through either the entire egg dividing into smaller cells or a small portion of the egg dividing and forming the
embryo.
c. All animals, even mammals, derive from eggs.
d. The intestinal tube forms by the folding of tissue that was once flat.
9 Which of these is involved in the initiation of egg metabolism?
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, 10/18/26, 11:28 PM BIO310-FinalExam-Answers
Choose one answer. a. Calcium
b. Sodium
c. Potassium
d. Hydrogen
10 You want to increase fertility in your laboratory mice, and you think that a way to do it would be to block any reactions that would modify ZP2 and ZP3. Is this a good
idea? Why or why not?
Choose one answer. a. Yes, because you will ensure that these proteins are able to function properly in binding sperm to the egg.
b. No, because these proteins are only marginally involved in chemoattraction and will not affect fertilization success.
c. No, because while you might increase fertilization success, you will block the egg’s ability to prevent polyspermy.
d. Yes, because you will ensure that the cumulus does not thicken too early in fertilization.
11 Which of the following is in fact a contradiction of von Baer’s principles of embryological development?
Choose one answer. a. Vertebrate embryos in their early stages of development are difficult to tell apart.
b. As the embryos of “higher” (more recently evolved) vertebrate species develop, they resemble the adult stages of various
ancestral forms.
c. Early vertebrate embryos all have the same type of skin, only later growing scales, hair, or feathers.
d. Vertebrate embryos resemble one another early in development but later do not resemble other species, only their own.
12 Different spliceosomes recognize different sequences, resulting in whole families of “splicing isoform” proteins. This is an example of gene regulation at what level?
Choose one answer. a. RNA processing
b. Post-translational modification
c. Transcription
d. Translation
13 In the oocyte, some mRNAs are bound to by inhibitory proteins or are ignored by cellular processing, because they have too short a poly(A) tail. This is an example of
gene regulation at what level?
https://saylordotorg.github.io/LegacyExams/BIO/BIO310/BIO310-FinalExam-Answers.html 3/26
1 Identify the molecule or structure described: a protein important in sperm motility.
Choose one answer. a. Bindin
b. Vitelline envelope
c. Cortical granules
d. Dynein
2 Identify the molecule or structure described: involved in the slow reaction against polyspermy in sea urchins.
Choose one answer. a. Bindin
b. Vitelline envelope
c. Cortical granules
d. Dynein
3 If you inactivated the glycoprotein ZP3 on a mouse oocyte, which of the following would be directly affected?
Choose one answer. a. The activation of egg metabolism
b. The primary binding of sperm to the zona pellucida
c. The secondary binding of sperm to the zona pellucida
d. The absorption of nutrients into the egg’s cytoplasm
4 If you were to reduce the amount of sodium available in the seawater around sea-urchin eggs, which of the following would be directly affected?
Choose one answer. a. The activation of egg metabolism
b. The slow reaction to prevent polyspermy
c. The fast reaction to prevent polyspermy
d. The binding of sperm and egg
https://saylordotorg.github.io/LegacyExams/BIO/BIO310/BIO310-FinalExam-Answers.html 1/26
,10/18/26, 11:28 PM BIO310-FinalExam-Answers
5 The concept that sperm were “seeds” of life that were provided by the female with nutrients, but no other material, was an idea supported by whom?
Choose one answer. a. Hertwig and Fol
b. Leeuwenhoek
c. Aristotle
d. Both B and C
6 Which of the following is false in regards to chemotaxis?
Choose one answer. a. It is most important in species with external fertilization.
b. It involves chemicals that have powerful effects at very low concentrations.
c. It involves chemicals that are present in sperm at higher and higher doses as they mature.
d. It involves the creation of a concentration gradient.
7 Which of the following observations would support the preformationist view of how embryos develop?
Choose one answer. a. The blood vessels of chicks form before the heart.
b. The intestinal tube forms by the folding of tissue that was once flat.
c. Each generation organisms are created anew.
d. Embryonic organs develop from different tissues than their adult counterparts.
8 Which of these discoveries was not made until the late 1800s?
Choose one answer. a. Fertilization occurs as a fusion of a sperm and an egg.
b. Cleavage occurs through either the entire egg dividing into smaller cells or a small portion of the egg dividing and forming the
embryo.
c. All animals, even mammals, derive from eggs.
d. The intestinal tube forms by the folding of tissue that was once flat.
9 Which of these is involved in the initiation of egg metabolism?
https://saylordotorg.github.io/LegacyExams/BIO/BIO310/BIO310-FinalExam-Answers.html 2/26
, 10/18/26, 11:28 PM BIO310-FinalExam-Answers
Choose one answer. a. Calcium
b. Sodium
c. Potassium
d. Hydrogen
10 You want to increase fertility in your laboratory mice, and you think that a way to do it would be to block any reactions that would modify ZP2 and ZP3. Is this a good
idea? Why or why not?
Choose one answer. a. Yes, because you will ensure that these proteins are able to function properly in binding sperm to the egg.
b. No, because these proteins are only marginally involved in chemoattraction and will not affect fertilization success.
c. No, because while you might increase fertilization success, you will block the egg’s ability to prevent polyspermy.
d. Yes, because you will ensure that the cumulus does not thicken too early in fertilization.
11 Which of the following is in fact a contradiction of von Baer’s principles of embryological development?
Choose one answer. a. Vertebrate embryos in their early stages of development are difficult to tell apart.
b. As the embryos of “higher” (more recently evolved) vertebrate species develop, they resemble the adult stages of various
ancestral forms.
c. Early vertebrate embryos all have the same type of skin, only later growing scales, hair, or feathers.
d. Vertebrate embryos resemble one another early in development but later do not resemble other species, only their own.
12 Different spliceosomes recognize different sequences, resulting in whole families of “splicing isoform” proteins. This is an example of gene regulation at what level?
Choose one answer. a. RNA processing
b. Post-translational modification
c. Transcription
d. Translation
13 In the oocyte, some mRNAs are bound to by inhibitory proteins or are ignored by cellular processing, because they have too short a poly(A) tail. This is an example of
gene regulation at what level?
https://saylordotorg.github.io/LegacyExams/BIO/BIO310/BIO310-FinalExam-Answers.html 3/26
