Previous Year Questions

QUESTION ID:2

An analysis of four microsatellite markers was carried out in a family showing a genetic disorder. The results are summarized below Based on the above, which of the markers shows linkage to the disorder?  

QUESTION ID:3

In Group I are given 4 orders of class Insecta. Match each one with a common name (Group II) and its diagnostic characters (Group III) Group III (i) Elongate, membranous wings with netlike venation, abdomen long and slender, compound eyes occupy most of head, hemimetabolous metamorphosis (ii) Elongate chewing mouthparts, threadlike antennae, abdomen with unsegmented, forceps-like cerci, hemimetabolous metamorphosis (iii)Forewing long, narrow and leathery, hind wing broad and membranous, chewing mouthparts, hemimetabolous metamorphosis (iv) Elongate abdomen with two or three tail filaments, two pairs of membranous wings with many veins, forewings traiangular, short, bristle-like antennae, hemimetabolous metamorphosis (v) Adults with reduced mouthparts, elongate antennae, long cerci, nymphs aquatic with gills, hemimetabolous metamorphosis (vi) Wings membranous with few veins, well developed ovipositiors, sometimes modified into a sting, mouth parts modified for biting and lapping, holometabolous metamorphosis.  

QUESTION ID:4

Following are certain statements regarding C3, C4 and CAM plants?

A. The ratio of water loss to CO2 uptake is higher in CAM plants than it is in either C3 and C4 plants.

B. The rate of photosynthesis attains maximum rate at lower intracellular CO2 partial pressure in C4 plants than in C3 plants.

C. The compensation point in C3 plants are always lower than C4 plants.

D. Plants with C4metabolism need less rubisco than C3 plants to achieve a given rate of photosynthesis..

Which one of the following combinations of above statements is correct?  

QUESTION ID:5

Which of the following is a correct match of the animal with its attribute?   

QUESTION ID:6

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?  

QUESTION ID:7

Which of the following is a correct statement?  

QUESTION ID:8

The possible relationships between levels of disturbance and species diversity in a biological community are that species diversity

A. is unaffected by disturbance.

B. is highest at intermediate levels of disturbance.

C. decreases exponentially with increasing levels of disturbance.

D. starts decreasing only at higher levels of disturbance.

Match each graph with its corresponding statements above:  

QUESTION ID:9

In life history evolution there is generally a trade off between the size and number of offsprings produced. Some conditions are listed below:

A. Scarcity of food during the early stages of life

B. Provision of parental care

C. High mortality during early stages of life

D. Predator's preference for large sized prey

What are the above two conditions that would favour the production of a small number of large-sized offspring?  

QUESTION ID:10

Which of the following characteristics make Amborella the most basal living angiosperm?  

QUESTION ID:11

Following is a table showing selected characteristics of important fungal groups. In the above table, the fungal groups A, B, C and D, are, respectively,  

QUESTION ID:12

The diagram represents competition between species 1 and species 2 according to Lotka-Volterra model of competition. Given the conditions in the diagram, the predicted outcome of competition is  

QUESTION ID:13

Two kinds of natural selection (A and B) acting on a trait are shown in the figure below. In each, the top graph shows the trait frequency before and the bottom graph frequency after the action of natural selection. The kind of natural selection in A and B are  

QUESTION ID:14

A student was asked to design a knockout cassette for specifically deleting the p53 gene from the prostate gland of mice. Which one of the following pairs of cassettes will ensure deletion of the gene?

QUESTION ID:15

in a random sample of 400 individuals from a population with allele of trait in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, 36 individuals are homozygous for allele a. How many individuals in the sample are expected to carry atleast one allele A?  

QUESTION ID:16

Which of the following statements is NOT correct regarding effect of genetic drift?  

QUESTION ID:17

During the production of alcohol by fermentation using budding yeast, oxygen supply is kept 'limited. Why?

QUESTION ID:18

Which of the following is NOT a benefit for the female adopting polyandry?  

QUESTION ID:19

Individual A performs to another individual a behavioral act which has a fitness consequence. Match the behavioral acts (a to e) with the correct fitness consequence (i) to (iv) 

QUESTION ID:20

Assume that individual A wants to do an altruistic act to individual B and that benefit and cost of doing this act are, in ‘fitness’ units, 40 and 12, respectively. According Hamilton's Rule, A should perform the altruistic act only if B is his  

QUESTION ID:21

In an attempt to detect protein expression profile in a cell, Western blot technique is employed. Expression of two new proteins is to be followed by probing with respective high affinity antibodies (raised in rabbit). Unfortunately, the two proteins were found to co-migrate in SDS-PAGE profile. Under this situation, using one dimensional SDSPAGE and by Western blot, which one of the following is the best way to demonstrate the presence of both the proteins?  

QUESTION ID:22

Nichrome coated stainless steel electrodes were implanted in a rat brain for chronically recording the electrical activity of deep brain structures. During a study of 3 months the intensity of electrical signals gradually decreased. The following statements may explain the cause of this observation.

A. The deposition of metallic iron from the electrode tips caused degeneration of some neurons.

B. The gradual accumulation of microglia at the electrode tips increased the resistance of electrodes.

C. The neurons at the electrode tips were hyperpolarized gradually.

D. The threshold for firing action potential in the neurons at the electrode tips was increased due to prolonged presence of electrodes.

Which one of the following is correct?  

QUESTION ID:23

The number of seeds in the fruit of a plant species, Ho : μ=30. A random sample of 9 fruits gives the mean number of seeds as 24 with a standard deviation of 6.12.

(a) What are the confidence limits for the sample mean?
(b) Would your reject or accept the null hypothesis at 95% confidence level?

QUESTION ID:24

A chromatin iminuno precipitation (ChIP) assay was performed to determine specific transcription factor binding sites on the promoter of a gene. Pull down was done using either IgG or anti-bodies against c-myc. A DNA containing cmyc binding regions was used as a control for PCR amplification (input). Which one of the following PCR representations of DNA is correct?

QUESTION ID:25

Following are certain statements regarding somatic hybridization, a technique used for plant improvement.

A. Protoplasts of only sexually compatible plant species can be fused.

B. Hybrids are produced with variable and asymmetric amounts of genetic material of parental species

C. Protoplast fusion permits transfer of gene block or chromosomes.

D. Genes to be transferred need to be identified and isolated.

Which one of the following combinations of the above statements is correct?  

QUESTION ID:26

A researcher was repeating a FACS experiment but somehow got confused with the labeling of the tubes. There are four tubes, one control, C (with no fluorescent label), one standard 1, S1 (with FITC label), one standard 2, S2 (with PE label) and the last one test, T (which should be FITC positive). Given below is the result of the FACS experiment. What should be the correct labeling?  

QUESTION ID:27

Small molecular weight compounds affect the activity of luciferase differently. The oil/water solubility of various compounds is one property important for its effect on luciferase. The straight line in the graph was obtained by plotting the activity data with 50 different compounds. The luciferase activity of two new derivatives of Benzene (A and B) are shown below: Which of the following statements is correct?