MULTIPLE CHOICE - 68 points (2 points each)
1. Multicellularity evolved among eukaryotes
A. Once, in the common ancestor of plants, animals, and fungi
B. Twice: once in the common ancestor of animals and fungi, and once in plants
C. Three times: independently in the plants, animals, and fungi
D. Four times: independently in the plants, and animals, and twice in the fungi
E. More than four times: independently in plants, animals, fungi, and several other
eukaryotic lineages
2. Amphimedon queenslandica is a typical poriferan that captures and phagocytoses food particles
using its
A. ciliary teeth
B. cnidocytes
C. manus
D. epithelia
E. choanocytes
3. Fungal mycelia are networks of
A. meristems
B. hyphae
C. tubulocytes
D. chytrids
E. archegonia
4. Which of the following is a characteristic of ferns (monilophyte plants)?
A. flowers
B. xylem
C. seeds
D. a reduced sporophyte that is dependent on the gametophyte for nutrition
E. fruit
5. An animal that you encounter in its natural habitat on land is almost certainly a
A. Ctenophore
B. Placozoan
C. Bilaterian
D. Poriferan
E. Cnidarian
6. Researchers align the DNA sequences from dog and cat across the region of genome that contains
the NCAM2 gene. The dog sequence is 91% identical to the cat sequence in the exons and 64%
identical in the 14 introns, on average. One exception is intron 6, which is 86% identical between the
two species. According to the neutral theory of molecular evolution, which inference should we make:
A. The population size of dogs is greater than the population size of cats
B. All mutations in this region are neutral
C. The fraction of mutations that are neutral is higher in intron 6 than in the other introns
D. Mutations in intron 6 are more likely to be deleterious than mutations in other introns
E. The mutation rate is higher in exons than in introns
1
, 7. This phylogeny is from a paper by Figueroa et al., PLOS ONE 0161070, 2016. The numbers represent
the strength of the evidence supporting each branch of the tree (they are not important for this
question). Among the following species, which is most closely related to (i.e., shares the most recent
common ancestor with) Afrotyphlops bibronii?
A. Afrotyphlops schlegelii
B. Afrotyphlops punctatus
C. Afrotyphlops elegans
D. Rhinotyphlops lalandei
E. Afrotyphlops obtusus
8. The relationships among the eukarya, archaea, and bacteria have been hard to untangle because
A. There is no outgroup for this phylogeny
B. There was a lot of horizontal gene transfer during the early evolution of cellular life
C. Endosymbiosis events mixed the lineages
D. Billions of years of subsequent evolutionary history have overwritten the DNA changes
associated with early branching events
E. All of the above
9. The form of bacterial genetic exchange that involves the passage of DNA from one cell to another
through a physical connection (a pilus) is called
A. Transformation
B. Transduction
C. Transsubstantiation
D. Conjugation
E. Potentiation
10. The human alpha-globin gene and the human beta-globin gene are
A. Orthologous
B. Paralogous
C. Allopatric
D. Sympatric
E. Parent and daughter isotopes
2
1. Multicellularity evolved among eukaryotes
A. Once, in the common ancestor of plants, animals, and fungi
B. Twice: once in the common ancestor of animals and fungi, and once in plants
C. Three times: independently in the plants, animals, and fungi
D. Four times: independently in the plants, and animals, and twice in the fungi
E. More than four times: independently in plants, animals, fungi, and several other
eukaryotic lineages
2. Amphimedon queenslandica is a typical poriferan that captures and phagocytoses food particles
using its
A. ciliary teeth
B. cnidocytes
C. manus
D. epithelia
E. choanocytes
3. Fungal mycelia are networks of
A. meristems
B. hyphae
C. tubulocytes
D. chytrids
E. archegonia
4. Which of the following is a characteristic of ferns (monilophyte plants)?
A. flowers
B. xylem
C. seeds
D. a reduced sporophyte that is dependent on the gametophyte for nutrition
E. fruit
5. An animal that you encounter in its natural habitat on land is almost certainly a
A. Ctenophore
B. Placozoan
C. Bilaterian
D. Poriferan
E. Cnidarian
6. Researchers align the DNA sequences from dog and cat across the region of genome that contains
the NCAM2 gene. The dog sequence is 91% identical to the cat sequence in the exons and 64%
identical in the 14 introns, on average. One exception is intron 6, which is 86% identical between the
two species. According to the neutral theory of molecular evolution, which inference should we make:
A. The population size of dogs is greater than the population size of cats
B. All mutations in this region are neutral
C. The fraction of mutations that are neutral is higher in intron 6 than in the other introns
D. Mutations in intron 6 are more likely to be deleterious than mutations in other introns
E. The mutation rate is higher in exons than in introns
1
, 7. This phylogeny is from a paper by Figueroa et al., PLOS ONE 0161070, 2016. The numbers represent
the strength of the evidence supporting each branch of the tree (they are not important for this
question). Among the following species, which is most closely related to (i.e., shares the most recent
common ancestor with) Afrotyphlops bibronii?
A. Afrotyphlops schlegelii
B. Afrotyphlops punctatus
C. Afrotyphlops elegans
D. Rhinotyphlops lalandei
E. Afrotyphlops obtusus
8. The relationships among the eukarya, archaea, and bacteria have been hard to untangle because
A. There is no outgroup for this phylogeny
B. There was a lot of horizontal gene transfer during the early evolution of cellular life
C. Endosymbiosis events mixed the lineages
D. Billions of years of subsequent evolutionary history have overwritten the DNA changes
associated with early branching events
E. All of the above
9. The form of bacterial genetic exchange that involves the passage of DNA from one cell to another
through a physical connection (a pilus) is called
A. Transformation
B. Transduction
C. Transsubstantiation
D. Conjugation
E. Potentiation
10. The human alpha-globin gene and the human beta-globin gene are
A. Orthologous
B. Paralogous
C. Allopatric
D. Sympatric
E. Parent and daughter isotopes
2
