MCQs in Developmental Biology

1. A fertilized egg is called a:

a) germ cell
b) embryo
c) zygote
d) blastula
e) oocyte

2. Which of the following reflects Weismann's model of development?

a) Somatic development and change does not contribute directly to the characteristics
of the next generation.
b) Factors, or "determinants", in the nucleus regulate development.
c) Asymmetric divisions resulted in unequal distribution of developmental
determinants to daughter cells.
d) Development is "mosaic".
e) All of the above were important to Weismann's view of biological development.

3. The experiments of Spemann and Mangold first defined what feature of amphibian
embryos?
a) the zygote
b) the blastopore
c) the neural tube
d) the organizer
e) the blastocoel

4. Genes control development by:

a) controlling where and when proteins are synthesized.
b) containing small preformed body parts and organs that become "expressed" during
developmen.t
c) directly controlling phenotypes, without intermediates or influence from the
environment.
d) acting as enzymes to build proteins.
e) containing instructions which describe in detail the final form to be achieved during
development.

5. The folding of sheets of cells, the migration of cells, and cell death are all mechanisms
of:
a) cleavage division
b) pattern formation
c) morphogenesis
d) differentiation
e) growth

6. The process by which developing cells achieve their functional, mature identity as
liver, or muscle, or nerve is called:
a) cleavage division
b) pattern formation
c) morphogenesis
d) differentiation

1
 e) growth

7. The establishment of the anterior-posterior or dorsal-ventral body axes is called:

a) division
b) pattern formation
c) morphogenesis
d) differentiation
e) growth

8. The pathway from a gene to a protein in eukaryotic cells involves:

a) first, transport of mRNA, then its processing, then transcription, then translation.
b) first, transcription of the RNA, then its transport, then processing, then translation.
c) first, translation of the RNA, then its transport, then its processing, then
transcription.
d) first, transcription of RNA, then its processing, then its transport, then translation.
e) first, processing of the RNA, then its transport, then transcription, then translation.

9. Which of the following is not a mechanism by which cells communicate with each
other?

a) Transcription factors are secreted from one cell and taken up by the target cell,
where they influence gene expression.
b) Cell surface molecules on adjacent cells interact and initiate a signal transduction
process that influences cellular behavior and gene expression.
c) Cells form gap junctions with adjacent cells, allowing the passage of small
molecules.
d) Cells secrete proteins and small hydrophilic molecules, which interact with cell
surface receptors on target cells and initiate a signal transduction process that
influences cellular behavior and gene expression.
e) Cells secrete small hydrophobic molecules which diffuse into target cells, interact
with cytoplasmic receptors, and influence gene expression.

10. Signal transduction can involve:

a) interaction of a molecule with a receptor at the cell surface.

b) intracellular modification of proteins by phosphorylation.
c) production of second messengers such as cAMP.
d) all of the above can be components of a signal transduction pathway.
e) none of the above are components of signal transduction pathways.

11. This chapter discusses the embryonic development of Drosophila melanogaster.

How long does embryonic development take in this organism?

a) one hour
b) three hours
c) one day
d) ten days
e) nine months

2
12. The portion of the blastoderm-stage embryo which will give rise to most ectodermal,
mesodermal, and endodermal tissues is called the:

a) ventral
b) germ band
c) imaginal discs
d) amnioserosa
e) germ line

13. The development of the antero-posterior axis of Drosophila is initiated when:

a) the mother packages bicoid and nanos mRNA into the developing oocyte.
b) the Toll receptor is activated after fertilization, leading to nuclear localization of
Dorsal protein.
c) the terminal group protein Torso sets up the anterior and posterior poles of the
embryo.
d) the homeotic genes specify the fate of individual segments.
e) the sperm enters the micropile at the anterior end, thus specifying the antero-
posterior axis.

14. Which of the following would lead to a dorsalized embryo? (Recall that genes in
Drosophila are named for their mutant phenotype.)

a) dorsal mutant
b) cactus mutant
c) toll mutant
d) spätzle mutant
e) bicoid mutant

15. A gap gene mutation might cause which of the following defects in the embryonic
body plan?

a) Every other segment would be missing, resulting in T1, T3, A2, A4, etc. but no T2,
A1, A3, and so on.
b) Segments A2 through A6 would be missing, but the rest of the pattern is essentially
normal.
c) No segmentation would be evident.
d) Patterning within each segment would be abnormal, causing for example denticle
belts to form across the entire segment.
e) The identity of one or more segments would be transformed to that of a different
segment, such that the T3 leg would transformed to a T2 leg.

16. The activation of zygotic hunchback expression by Bicoid protein illustrates what
principle in the establishment of positional information in embryos?

a) The mother can influence development through the packaging of materials into the
egg.
b) A gradient of a protein can activate a gene in a discrete region of an embryo
through a threshold effect.
c) The identity of segments in the embryo is a reflection of their position in the
embryo.
d) A cascade of gene activations occurs in the syncitial blastoderm.
e) Genes are activated or repressed by the binding of transcription factors to their
regulatory regions.

3
17. The portion of the Drosophila body plan which will produce the wing is called:

a) telson
b) dorsal
c) abdomen
d) thorax
e) neurectoderm

18. The adult body plan of the fly is based on reiterating structures called segments;
segment precursors (parasegments) are first positioned at the cell-by-cell level by which
group of genes?

a) maternal genes such as bicoid

b) gap genes such as Kruppel
c) pair-rule genes such as even-skipped
d) segmentation genes such as engrailed
e) homeotic genes such as antennapedia

19. Mutations in homeotic genes can lead to what type of developmental defect?

a) The anterior portion of the embryo does not develop.

b) Several adjacent segments will be missing from an otherwise intact embryo.
c) The embryo will develop with every other segment failing to form.
d) Segment and compartment boundaries will fail to form.
e) The development of segments will be changed wholesale from their normal identity
to that of a different segment.

20. Which of the following, first discovered through mutagenesis studies in Drosophila,
also function in the development of mammals like ourselves?

a) hedgehog
b) homeobox genes
c) the Wnt family
d) the Toll signalling pathway
e) all of the above

21. In which portion of the frog's life-cycle would a frog appear most similar to a mammal?

a) The fertilized eggs of frogs and mammals are similar in size and look nearly identical.
b) A frog blastula is very similar to a mammalian blastocyst.
c) The events of gastrulation in frogs are highly similar to gastrulation and extraembryonic
membrane formation in mammals.
d) Late in organogenesis, at the phylotypic stage, the body plans of frogs and mammals are
remarkably similar.
e) Adult frogs are essentially indistinguishable from adult humans.

22. The notochord is a ___ structure in vertebrate embryos that lies under the ___, and is
flanked by ___.

a) mesodermal, neural tube, somites

b) endodermal, mesoderm, the gut
c) ectodermal, neural tube, mesoderm
d) mesodermal, ectoderm, endoderm

4
e) endodermal, epidermis, blastocoel

5
Answer key:

1.c
2.e
3.d
4.a
5.c
6.d
7.b
8.d
9.a
10.d
11.c
12.b
13.a
14.a
15.b
16.b
17.d
18.c
19.e
20.e