CHAPTER Principles of

5 Inheritance and
Variation
prACtiCe Questions
Inheritance
1. Mendel was born in
(a) 17th century (b) 18th century
(c) 19th century (d) 8th century
2. Mendel was the native of
(a) France (b) Sweden (c) India (d) Austria
3. Mendel proposed which of the following terms for hereditary units?
(a) Factor (determiner) (b) Genome
(c) Genetic particle (d) None of these
4. In genetics, the use of chequer board was done by
(a) Mendel (b) Correns
(c) Punnet (d) Darwin
5. In 1900 CE, three biologists independently discovered Mendel’s principles. They are
(a) De Vries, Correns and Tschermak (b) Sutton, Morgan and Bridges
(c) Avery, MacLeod and McCarty (d) Bateson, Punnet and Bridges
6. Which of the following has been used for genetic researches?
(a) Pisum (b) Neurospora
(c) E. coli (d) All of these
7. Organism of pure line is that which produces individuals of
(a) Dominant characters (b) Recessive characters
(c) Its own characters (d) Intermediate type
8. Mendel is famous for his work on
(a) Pisum (b) Drosophila
(c) Neurospora (d) Oenothera
9. The main reason for the success of Mendel was
(a) Study of all the characters at the same time
(b) Study of one character at one time
(c) Study of all the plants at the same time
(d) Counting of plants
5.4 Principles of Inheritance and Variation

10. The alleles are

(a) A pair of genes governing a specific character such as tallness or dwarfness.
(b) Multiple forms of genes.
(c) Genes governing eye characters.
(d) Genes present in allosomes.
11. An allele is said to be dominant if
(a) It is expressed only in heterozygous combination.
(b) It is expressed only in homozygous combination.
(c) It is expressed in both homozygous and heterozygous condition.
(d) It is expressed only in second generation.
12. What is the correct sequence of the following events?
1.  Formation of the chromosome theory of heredity.
2.  Experiments which proved that DNA is the hereditary material.
3.  Mendel’s laws of inheritance—discovery.
(a) 1, 3 and 2 (b) 1, 2 and 3 (c) 3, 1 and 2 (d) 2, 1 and 3
13. When a true breeding pea plant that has yellow seeds is pollinated by a plant that has green
seeds, then all the F1 plants have yellow seeds. This means that the allele for yellow is
(a) Heterozygous (b) Dominant
(c) Recessive (d) Lethal
14. An organism’s genetic constitution is called its
(a) Genotype (b) Phenotype
(c) Holotype (d) None of these
15. An organism with two identical alleles for a given trait is
(a) Homozygous (b) Segregating
(c) Dominant (d) A hermaphrodite
16. What type of gametes will be formed by genotype RrYy?
(a) RY, Ry, rY, ry (b) RY, Ry, ry, ry
(c) Ry, Ry, Yy, ry (d) Rr, RR, Yy, YY
17. Which genotype characterizes an organism that is heterozygous for two genes?
(a) RRYy (b) RrYY (c) RRYY (d) RrYy
18. The dwarfness in plants of F2 generation is
(a) Recessive (b) Dominant
(c) Both (a) and (b) (d) None of these
19. When heterozygous tall plants are self-pollinated, then tall and dwarf plants are obtained. This
explains
(a) Law of purity of gamete (b) Segregation of law
(c) Division in spores (d) Independent assortment
20. Mendel’s principle of segregation was based on the separation of alleles in the garden pea
during
(a) Pollination (b) Embryonic development
(c) Seed formation (d) Gamete formation
Principles of Inheritance and Variation5.5

21. Which of the following is the dominant character according to Mendel?

(a) Dwarf plant and yellow fruit (b) Terminal fruit and wrinkled seed
(c) White testa and yellow pericarp (d) Green coloured pod and rounded seed
22. In Mendelism, the linkage was not observed due to
(a) Mutation (b) Independent assortment
(c) Synapsis (d) Crossing over
23. Mendel’s law of heredity can be explained with the help of
(a) Mitosis (b) Meiosis
(c) Both mitosis and meiosis (d) None of these
24. A cross between plants having RRYY and rryy composition will yield plants with
(a) Round and yellow seeds (b) Round and green seeds
(c) Wrinkled and yellow seeds (d) Wrinkled and green seeds
25. The genotype of an individual is Rr Bb. How many different types of gametes will it produce
based on the law of independent assortment?
(a) 16 (b) 9 (c) 8 (d) 4
26. Which of the following is heterozygous for two pairs of alleles?
(a) TTRR (b) TrRR (c) ttrr (d) TrtR
27. In Mendel’s experiment, nature of seed coat, flower colour, position of flower, pod colour, stem
height, etc., are referred to as
(a) Alleles (b) Genotypes
(c) Phenotypes (d) All of these
28. A cross between a homozygous recessive and a heterozygous plant is called
(a) Monohybrid cross (b) Dihybrid cross
(c) Test cross (d) Back cross
29. Cross between F1 plant and recessive female plant is called
(a) Back cross (b) Test cross (c) Out cross (d) Mutation
30. In F2 generation, a phenotypic ratio of 1 : 1 : 1 : 1 exhibits
(a) Back cross (b) Monohybrid test cross
(c) Lethality (d) Dihybrid test cross
31. Which of the following depicts the Mendel’s dihybrid ratio?
(a) 3 : 1 (b) 9 : 3 : 3 : 1 (c) 9 : 7 (d) 15 : 1
32. In dihybrid cross, out of 16 plants obtained, the number of genotypes will be
(a) 4 (b) 9 (c) 16 (d) 12
33. Pure homozygous offsprings in a dihybrid cross in the F2 generation will be
1 1 1 1
(a) (b) (c) (d)
2 4 8 16
34. In hybridization, Tt × tt gives rise to the progeny of ratio
(a) 1 : 1 (b) 1 : 2 (c) 2 : 1 (d) 1 : 2 : 1
35. Self-pollination between Tt and Tt plants results into the genotype ratio of
(a) 3 : 1 (b) 1 : 2 : 1 (c) 1 : 3 (d) 4 : 0
5.6 Principles of Inheritance and Variation

36. Mendel crossed a pure white-flowered recessive pea plant with a dominant pure red-flowered
plant. The first generation of hybrids from the cross should show
(a) 50 per cent white-flowered and 50 per cent red-flowered plants
(b) All red-flowered plants
(c) 75 per cent red-flowered and 25 per cent white-flowered plants
(d) All white-flowered plants
37. If in a dihybrid cross, Mendel had used two such characters which have linked, he would have
faced difficulty in explaining the results on the basis of his
(a) Law of segregation (b) Law of multiple factor hypothesis
(c) Law of independent assortment (d) Law of dominance
38. From a cross Aa BB × aa BB, which of the following genotypic ratio will be obtained in F1
generation?
(a) 1 Aa BB : 1 aa BB (b) 1 Aa BB : 3 aa BB
(c) 3 Aa BB : 1 aa BB (d) All Aa BB : No aa BB
39. A farmer crossed a walnut combed chicken with a single combed one and obtained all walnut
combed chickens in F1. The genotype of the parents was
(a) Rr Pp × rr pp (b) RR PP × rr pp (c) RR pp × rr pp (d) RR Pp × rr pp
40. In sweet peas, genes C and P are necessary for colour in flowers. The flowers are white in the
absence of either or both the genes. What will be the percentage of coloured flowers in the
offspring of the cross Cc pp × cc Pp?
(a) 100% (b) 75% (c) 25% (d) 50%
41. In a monohybrid cross, 120 plants are obtained. The ratio of homozygous and heterozygous
will be
(a) 40 : 80 (b) 60 : 60 (c) 20 : 100 (d) 10 : 110
42. If Mendel had studied the seven traits using a plant with 12 chromosomes instead of 14, in
what way would his interpretation have been different?
(a) He could have mapped the chromosome.
(b) He would have discovered blending or incomplete dominance.
(c) He would not have discovered the law of independent assortment.
(d) He would have discovered sex linkage.
43. How many different types of genetically different gametes will be produced by a heterozygous
plant having the genotype AABbCc?
(a) 2 (b) 4 (c) 6 (d) 9
44. Mendel’s law of independent assortment is applicable for
(a) All genes in all organisms (b) All genes of pea plant only
(c) All linked genes only (d) All non-linked genes only
45. In a plant, red fruit (R) is dominant over yellow fruit (r) and tallness (T) is dominant over
shortness (t). If a plant with RRTt genotype is crossed with a plant that is rrtt, then
(a) 75 per cent will be tall with red fruit (b) All the offspring will be tall with red fruit
(c) 25 per cent will be tall with red fruit (d) 50 per cent will be tall with red fruit
46. When a tall plant with rounded seeds (TTRR) is crossed with a dwarf plant with wrinkled
seeds (ttrr), then the generation consists of tall plants with rounded seeds. How many types of
gametes a plant would produce?
(a) One (b) Three (c) Four (d) Eight
Principles of Inheritance and Variation 5.7

47. Mendel did his experiment on

(a) Garden pea (Pisum sativum) (b) Snapdragon
(c) Drosophila (d) Lathyrus odoratus
48. How many contrasting traits are chosen by Mendel?
(a) 7 (b) 14 (c) 21 (d) 4
49. Mendel conducted an experiment on garden pea for how many years?
(a) 7 (b) 10 (c) 4 (d) 15
50. Select the incorrect matching.
Characters Dominant trait Recessive trait

(a) Seed shape

Round Wrinkled

(b) Seed colour

Yellow Green

(c) Flower colour

Violet White

(d) Pod shape

Constricted Full

51. Number of character of garden pea flower chosen by Mendel?

(a) 1 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 4
52. Select the false statement from the following:
(a) Mendel for the first time applied statistical analysis and mathematical logics to problems
in biology.
(b) Mendel’s experiment had a large sampling size, which gave greater credibility to the data
that he collected.
(c) Mendel conducted artificial cross-pollination experiment using true-breeding pea lines.
(d) Mendel selected 14 true-breeding pea plant varieties, as pairs which were similar except
for two characters with contrasting traits.
53. In Mendelian dihybrid cross, how many individuals are homozygous dominant for both the
genes in F2 generation?
1 2 4 6
(a) (b) (c) (d)
16 16 16 16
5.8 Principles of Inheritance and Variation

54. In Mendelian dihybrid cross, how many individuals are homozygous recessive for one of the
character only in F2 generation?
1 2 3 6
(a) (b) (c) (d)
16 16 16 16
55. In Mendelian dihybrid cross, how many individuals are heterozygous of both the character in
F2-generation?
1 2 3 4
(a) (b) (c) (d)
16 16 16 16
56. In Mendelian dihybrid cross, how many of progeny in F2 generation possess genotype rryy?
1 2 3 4
(a) (b) (c) (d)
16 16 16 16
57. How many genotypes are formed in Mendelian dihybrid cross?
(a)
4 (b) 9 (c) 6 (d) 8
58. The below diagram shows:

Parental

Tall Dwarf

F1 generation
Selfing

Tall Tall

F2 generation

Tall Tall Tall Dwarf

(a) Monohybrid cross (b) Dihydrid cross

(c) Trihydrid cross (d) All the above
Principles of Inheritance and Variation5.9

59. The below diagram represents

Homozygous Homozygous
recessive recessive
WW WW

W W W W
?

W W
Ww Ww Ww Ww
WW Ww
W Dominant Phenotype w
Ww Ww (Genotype unknown) WW WW
Result All flowers are violet Half of the flowers are violet and
half of the flowers are white.
Interpretation Unknown flower
is homozyous dominant Unknown flower is heterozygous

(a) Back cross (b) Out cross

(c) Test cross (d) Dihybrid cross
60. The below diagram represents

P generation

Red (RR) White (rr)

Gametes R r

F1 generation

All pink (Rr)

Gametes R R Gametes

r r
RR

F2 generation Rr Rr

rr

Phenotypic ratio : red : pink : white

1 : 2 : 1
Genotypic ratio : RR : Rr : rr
1 : 2 : 1

(a) Dominant epistasis (b) Recessive epistasis

(c) Incomplete dominance (d) Co-dominance
5.10 Principles of Inheritance and Variation

61. Identify A to E in this figure.

(a) A: Petal;   B: Stigma;   C: Anther;  D: Stamen; E: Carpel

(b) A: Anther;  B: Petal; C: Stigma;    D: Carpel;  E: Stamen
(c) A: Carpel;  B: Stamen; C: Anther;  D: Stigma;   E: Petal
(d) A: Stigma; B: Petal;  C: Stamen; D: Anther;   E: Carpel
62. Identify A, B, C and D in this figure?

A B

(a) A: Female parent; B: Removal of anthers (Emasculation); C: Transfer of pollen

(Pollination); D: Male parent
(b) A: Male parent; B: Female parent; C: Removal of anthers (Emasculation); D: Transfer of
pollen (Pollination)
(c) A: Removal of anthers (Emasculation); B: Female parent; C: Transfer of pollen
(Pollination); D: Male parent
(d) A: Female parent; B: Male parent; C: Transfer of pollen (Pollination); D: Removal of
anthers (Emasculation)
Principles of Inheritance and Variation5.11

63. Inheritance of ABO blood group system is an example of

(a) Multiple allelism (b) Partial dominance
(c) Epistasis (d) Dominance
64. Genotype of blood group ‘A’ will be
(a) IAIA (b) I BI B
(c) IAIA or IAIO (d) IAIO
65. Blood group ‘B’ will have alleles
(a) ii (b) IAIA
(c) I BI B (d) I AI B
66. If one parent belongs to ‘A’ blood group and the other to ‘O’ blood group, their children
­possibly represent
(a) A and B groups only (b) AB only
(c) A and O groups only (d) All four groups

67. If a child has O type of blood group and the father has B type, then the genotype of the father
will be
(a) I OI O (b) I AI B
(c) I I 
O B
(d) I BI B
68. A person with antigens ‘B’ in RBC and antibodies ‘A’ in the plasma belongs to the blood group
(a) A (b) B
(c) AB (d) O
69. Rh factor may be responsible for
(a) Turner’s syndrome
(b) AIDS
(c) Sickle-cell anaemia
(d) Erythroblastosis fetalis
70. A human female with blood group ‘A’ has
(a) Antibody-anti-B in the red blood cells and antigen A in the serum
(b) Antigen A in the red blood cells and antibody-anti-B in the serum
(c) Antigen B in the red blood cells and antibody-anti-B in the serum
(d) Antigen A in the red blood cells and antibody-anti-A in the serum
71. Rh factor is named after
(a) Man (b) Rat
(c) Monkey (d) Chimpanzee
72. If one parent has blood group A and the other parent has blood group B, the offspring have
which blood group?
(a) AB (b) O
(c) BO (d) A, B, AB, O
73. Mendel did not recognize the linkage phenomenon in his experiments because
(a) There were many chromosomes to handle.
(b) Characters he studied were located on different chromosomes.
(c) He did not have powerful microscope.
(d) He studied only pure plants.
5.12 Principles of Inheritance and Variation

74. Exchange of genetic material between chromatids of homologous chromosomes during

­meiosis is called
(a) Synapsis (b) Chiasmata
(c) Transformation (d) Crossing over
75. In maize, the chromosome number is 2n = 20. The number of linkage groups in it will be
(a) 20 (b) 40
(c) 10 (d) 5
76. The map distance between genes A and B is 3 units, between B and C is 10 units and between
C and A is 7 units. The order of the genes in a linkage map constructed on the above data
would perhaps be
(a) A, B, C (b) A, C, B
(c) B, C, A (d) B, A, C
77. Crossing over in diploid organism is responsible for
(a) Dominance of genes (b) Linkage between genes
(c) Segregation of alleles (d) Recombination of linked allele
78. The percentage of crossing over will be more if
(a) Linked genes are located far apart from each other
(b) Linked genes are located close to each other
(c) Genes are not linked
(d) Genes are located in a different cell
79. Linkage was first observed in
(a) Field pea (b) Sweet pea
(c) Pea (d) Grass pea
80. Drosophila has four pairs of chromosomes. How many linkage groups does it have?
(a) Eight (b) Four
(c) One less than the pairs of chromosomes (d) One more than the pairs of chromosomes
81. Linkage in Drosophila was first discovered by
(a) Morgan (b) Bateson and Punnett
(c) Sturtevant (d) Bridges
82. Number of linkage groups in Pisum sativum is
(a) 2 (b) 5
(c) 7 (d) 9
83. Who coined the term linkage?
(a) Mendel (b) Tschermak
(c) Sturtevant (d) T. H. Morgan
84. In humans, the chromosomal condition of male is
(a) 44 AA + XO (b) 44 AA + XX
(c) 44 AA + XY (d) 44 AA + XXY
85. Physical association of two genes is known as
(a) Heterozygosis (b) Linkage
(c) Recombination (d) Homozygosis