Questions & Answers
Browse all 25 questions from the
Historical Milestones in Genetics study set below.
Each question shows the correct answer — select a study format above to practice interactively.
1
Who coined the term 'genetics' in a private letter to Adam Sedgwick in 1905?
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A
Gregor Mendel
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B
William Bateson
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C
Thomas Hunt Morgan
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D
Hugo de Vries
2
In 1944, which researchers provided the first experimental proof that DNA is the substance that causes bacterial transformation?
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A
Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty
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B
Watson and Crick
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C
Hershey and Chase
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D
Franklin and Wilkins
3
Barbara McClintock was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983 for her discovery of what genetic phenomenon?
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A
X-inactivation
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B
Genetic linkage
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C
Transposable elements
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D
Alternative splicing
4
The 1952 Hershey-Chase experiment utilized which organism to confirm that DNA, not protein, is the genetic material?
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A
Drosophila melanogaster
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B
Escherichia coli
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C
T2 bacteriophage
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D
Neurospora crassa
5
Which scientist is credited with the first isolation of DNA in 1869, originally referring to the substance as 'nuclein'?
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A
Friedrich Miescher
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B
Phoebus Levene
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C
Albrecht Kossel
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D
Oswald Avery
6
What was the primary conclusion of the 1908 Hardy-Weinberg principle?
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A
Mutation rates are constant
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B
Allele frequencies remain constant in a population in the absence of evolutionary forces
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C
Genetic drift is the primary driver of speciation
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D
Recombination frequency is proportional to physical distance
7
In 1910, Thomas Hunt Morgan identified a white-eyed mutation in fruit flies, proving that genes are located on:
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A
Mitochondria
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B
Chromosomes
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C
Ribosomes
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D
Nuclear envelopes
8
The first genetic map, depicting the relative positions of genes on a chromosome, was constructed by whom in 1913?
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A
Alfred Sturtevant
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B
Ronald Fisher
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C
Sewall Wright
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D
Theodosius Dobzhansky
9
Which team of scientists published the first complete DNA sequence of a free-living organism, Haemophilus influenzae, in 1995?
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A
Human Genome Project team
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B
Venter, Fraser, et al.
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C
Maxam and Gilbert
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D
Sanger and Coulson
10
Frederick Sanger was awarded his second Nobel Prize in 1980 for which achievement?
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A
Sequencing the human genome
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B
Determining the amino acid sequence of insulin
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C
Developing the chain-termination method of DNA sequencing
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D
Discovery of restriction enzymes
11
What did the 1928 Griffith experiment demonstrate regarding Streptococcus pneumoniae?
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A
Bacterial conjugation
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B
The presence of a 'transforming principle'
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C
DNA replication mechanisms
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D
Antibiotic resistance mutations
12
Who received the 1958 Nobel Prize for discovering the mechanisms of genetic recombination in bacteria?
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A
Joshua Lederberg
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B
Edward Tatum
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C
George Beadle
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D
All of the above
13
The 'One Gene, One Enzyme' hypothesis, proposed in 1941, was based on experiments with which fungus?
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A
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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B
Neurospora crassa
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C
Aspergillus nidulans
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D
Penicillium chrysogenum
14
Who proposed the existence of messenger RNA (mRNA) in 1961 based on studies of phage-infected bacteria?
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A
Brenner, Jacob, and Meselson
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B
Watson and Crick
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C
Nirenberg and Matthaei
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D
Holley and Khorana
15
The Meselson-Stahl experiment of 1958 provided evidence for which mode of DNA replication?
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A
Conservative
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B
Semiconservative
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C
Dispersive
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D
Random
16
Which scientist discovered the 'Chargaff's Rules' regarding the molar ratios of nitrogenous bases in DNA?
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A
Erwin Chargaff
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B
Linus Pauling
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C
Maurice Wilkins
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D
Rosalind Franklin
17
In 1970, which two scientists independently discovered reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that synthesizes DNA from RNA?
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A
Baltimore and Temin
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B
Watson and Crick
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C
Mullis and Smith
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D
Cech and Altman
18
Kary Mullis invented the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique in which year?
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A
1975
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B
1983
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C
1989
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D
1992
19
Which geneticist coined the term 'linkage' to describe the tendency of genes located on the same chromosome to be inherited together?
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A
Thomas Hunt Morgan
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B
William Bateson
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C
Gregor Mendel
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D
Hugo de Vries
20
The Human Genome Project was officially launched in which year?
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A
1985
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B
1990
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C
1995
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D
2000
21
Who developed the dideoxy chain-termination method for DNA sequencing in 1977?
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A
Frederick Sanger
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B
Walter Gilbert
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C
Allan Maxam
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D
Francis Crick
22
In 1902, Walter Sutton and Theodor Boveri independently proposed what theory?
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A
Central Dogma
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B
Chromosome theory of inheritance
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C
Operon model
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D
Clonal selection theory
23
What was the first organism to have its entire genome sequenced in 1996?
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A
Caenorhabditis elegans
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B
Drosophila melanogaster
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C
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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D
Escherichia coli
24
Which scientist discovered the existence of restriction enzymes, later used to engineer recombinant DNA?
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A
Werner Arber
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B
Hamilton Smith
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C
Daniel Nathans
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D
All of the above
25
The term 'epigenetics' was first coined in 1942 by which developmental biologist?
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A
Conrad Waddington
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B
James Watson
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C
Sydney Brenner
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D
Eric Davidson
