BIO 340 Recitation Quiz & Answer Review Pack covering Genetics, Molecular Biology, and Evolution for the 2026/2027 syllabus.

BIO 340 Recitation Quiz & Answer Review Pack covering Genetics, Molecular Biology, and Evolution for the 2026/2027 syllabus. Section 1: Mendelian & Population Genetics (Q1–30) Q1 In a monohybrid cross between two heterozygous pea plants (Aa × Aa), what proportion of offspring will be homozygous dominant? ANSWER Q2 What is the probability that two heterozygous parents (Aa × Aa) produce a child with the recessive phenotype? ANSWER Q3 In a dihybrid cross (AaBb × AaBb), assuming independent assortment, what fraction of offspring will be A_bb? ANSWER Q4 A man with blood type AB marries a woman with type O. What is the probability their child has type A blood? ANSWER Q5 What is the term for a gene that masks the expression of another gene at a different locus? ANSWER Q6 In X-linked recessive disorders, which gender is more likely to be affected? ANSWER Q7 A colorblind father (XᶜY) and a carrier mother (XᶜX) have a daughter. What is the chance she is colorblind? ANSWER Q8 What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation for genotype frequencies? ANSWER Q9 In a population in HWE, if frequency of recessive allele (q) = 0.3, what is frequency of heterozygotes? ANSWER Q10 What evolutionary force reduces genetic variation by random chance, especially in small populations? ANSWER Q11 What does the term "fitness" mean in evolutionary genetics? ANSWER Q12 If a population has genotype frequencies AA=0.36, Aa=0.48, aa=0.16, is it in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium? ANSWER Q13 What is the difference between directional and stabilizing selection? ANSWER Q14 What is the coefficient of relatedness (r) between full siblings? ANSWER Q15 What is the name of the phenomenon where heterozygotes have higher fitness than either homozygote? ANSWER Q16 In a test cross (AaBb × aabb), what ratio indicates independent assortment? ANSWER Q17 What is linkage disequilibrium? ANSWER Q18 A woman is a carrier for hemophilia (XᴴXʰ). She has a child with a normal man (XᴴY). What % of sons will have hemophilia? ANSWER Q19 What is pleiotropy? ANSWER Q20 What is the term for when one gene locus affects expression of another? ANSWER Q21 What is the probability that two heterozygous parents (Aa) have three children all with dominant phenotype? ANSWER Q22 In a population of 1000 individuals, 160 show recessive trait. Assuming HWE, how many heterozygotes? ANSWER Q23 What is the effective population size (Ne)? ANSWER Q24 What is the main evolutionary effect of gene flow? ANSWER Q25 What does a high FST value indicate between populations? ANSWER Q26 What is the founder effect? ANSWER Q27 What is the bottleneck effect? ANSWER Q28 Inbreeding depression is mainly due to expression of what type of alleles? ANSWER Q29 What is the term for when selection favors one extreme phenotype? ANSWER Q30 What is the term for when selection favors both extremes over intermediate? ANSWER Section 2: Molecular Biology – DNA Replication, Transcription, Translation (Q31–60) Q31 What enzyme synthesizes RNA primer during DNA replication? ANSWER Q32 Which DNA polymerase in prokaryotes is mainly responsible for 5′→3′ synthesis and 3′→5′ proofreading? ANSWER Q33 What is the direction of DNA synthesis? ANSWER