Genetics Questions

The rich genetic variation in biological populations can be quantified by different statistics, including all of these EXCEPT _____, to compare levels of variation among populations and species.a. species typeb. number of haplotypesc. number of segregating sitesd. gene diversity

_____ is the probability that two alleles in an individual are descended from a common ancestor.a. Population structureb. Disassortativenessc. The inbreeding coefficientd. Inbreeding depression

Conservation biologists are concerned about physical abnormalities in inbred populations of Florida panthers. To infuse the population with new genetic variation, biologists moved several panthers from a Texas population into Florida. The offspring of the Florida panthers and the new panthers showed an increase in genetic diversity because of:a. drift.b. selection.c. mutation.d. migration.

Which formula can be used to calculate the inbreeding coefficients from this pedigree?a. FI = (1/2)3(1 + FA)b. FI = (1/2)5(1 + FA)c. FI = Σ(1/2)2(1 + FA)d. FI = (1/2)3(1 + FA1) + (1/2)3(1 + FA2)

Hunting reduced the northern elephant seal population size to as few as 20 individuals by the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, their population has increased to over 30,000, but they have much less genetic variation than a population of southern elephant seals that was not so intensely hunted. This is an example of a:a. discovery panel.b. genetic admixture.c. population bottleneck.d. gene pool.

You have been studying a newt population for three generations. You randomly sampled the breeding population in the first year of your study and have been randomly sampling the offspring in each generation since. For a specific locus, GY9, the first sampling gave allele frequencies of G = 0.67 and g = 0.33. The next two sampling periods had the same allele frequencies. What can you conclude about this newt population?a. It was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium only for the first two generations.b. It is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.c. It is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium but was not for the first two generations.d. It is not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

_____ is the probability that two alleles drawn at random from the gene pool will be different.a. Haplotype (NH)b. Segregating (S)c. Nucleotide diversityd. Gene diversity (GD)

A researcher is studying the same locus in two individuals. This locus is composed of six nucleotides: the sequence in individual 1 is ATGCAT, and the sequence in individual 2 is ATGGAT. At position four in this sequence, a C base has been replaced by a G base. This is a:a. microarray.b. single nucleotide polymorphism.c. microsatellite.d. macrosatellite.

A researcher is studying a single nucleotide polymorphism in a population of turtles. He notices that at the locus of interest, all of the turtles sampled possess an A nucleotide. In this turtle population, this site would be:a. modified or fixed.b. variable or fixed.c. invariant or modified.d. fixed or invariant.

Populations that _____ random mating _____ exhibit exact Hardy-Weinberg proportions for the genotypes at some or all genes.a. are; will notb. are not; willc. are not; will sometimesd. are not; will not

The star-cluster haplotype for the Y chromosome, which has a high frequency in Mongolia, dates to about 1000 years ago. The distribution of this haplotype correlates with the boundaries of the empire established by _____. It is believed that this haplotype traces to his lineage.a. Julius Caesarb. Alexander the Greatc. Louis XIVd. Genghis Khan

In a population of 23 with an inbreeding coefficient of 0.2, calculate Ft+2.a. 0.234b. 0.217c. 0.1957d. 0.0217

Microsatellites often have _____ at each locus.a. only 10 allelesb. more than 20 allelesc. only a single alleled. only two alleles

Single nucleotide polymorphisms can have a maximum of _____ alleles at any one locus.a. fourb. sixc. twod. 20

_____ found in the mitochondrial (mtDNA) and chloroplast (cpDNA) genomes of eukaryotes.a. Both introns and exons areb. Both SNPs and microsatellites arec. Only introns ared. Only maternal DNA is

Linkage disequilibrium as measured by D declines at a rate of (1 − r) per generation. When r is small, D _____. When r is at its maximum (0.5), then D _____.a. declines quickly over time; increases by ½ each generationb. declines slowly over time; declines by ½ each generationc. increases slowly over time; increases quickly over timed. increases by ½ each generation; declines slowly over time

A researcher is studying a population of robins in his town. He is specifically interested in a single locus with two alleles, Q and q. He samples 20 robins. What will be the total number of alleles?a. 40b. 10c. 20d. 80

Evolutionary biologists theorize that the cheetah population experienced a genetic bottleneck, which involved a reduction in the gene pool. As a result, cheetahs have very little genetic variation, leading to an increased expression of deleterious recessive alleles. This in turn leads to a decrease in the fitness in the entire population, a phenomenon known as _____.a. genotypic frequencyb. genetic rescuec. selfingd. inbreeding depression

If five microsatellite alleles in a blood sample from a crime scene and a suspect's DNA match, can a forensic scientist say without a doubt that the suspect left the evidence?a. Yes; if the suspect hadn't done it, he wouldn't be a suspect.b. No; it depends on how frequent the alleles are in the population.c. Yes; the alleles match.d. No; the researchers likely made a mistake during their blood sample collection; that is, either 15 microsatellite alleles will match or none of the microsatellite alleles will match.

Consider a population with the size N, in the generation t + 1. What is the probability that the second allele we pick will be a different copy from the first allele?a. 1 - 1/(2N)b. (1/2)nc. N − 1d. 1/(2N)