Biology Practice Test: Mitosis and Meiosis
- Mitosis and Meiosis
- 10 questions
- 13 minutes
This test compares mitosis, which makes identical body cells, with meiosis, which makes gametes. Tip: in mitosis sister chromatids separate; in meiosis I homologous chromosomes separate, and the chromosome number is halved.
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Question 1
A student looks at an onion root tip under a microscope. In one cell, the chromosomes are lined up in a single row across the middle of the cell. Which phase of mitosis is this cell in?
Correct answer: A
In metaphase, spindle fibers line the chromosomes up along the middle of the cell. In anaphase, the chromatids have already started moving toward the poles.
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Question 2
During which phase of mitosis are sister chromatids pulled apart toward opposite ends of the cell?
Correct answer: A
In anaphase, the spindle fibers shorten and pull the sister chromatids to opposite poles. Each chromatid is now counted as its own chromosome.
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Question 3
How does cytokinesis happen in a plant cell?
Correct answer: C
Plant cells have a rigid wall, so they cannot pinch in two. Instead, vesicles gather in the middle and build a cell plate, which grows into a new wall. The cleavage furrow happens in animal cells.
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Question 4
A student counts 200 cells in an onion root tip and records the phase of each one.
Phase Number of cells Interphase 180 Prophase 10 Metaphase 4 Anaphase 4 Telophase 2 If one full cell cycle takes 24 hours, about how long do these cells spend in interphase?
Correct answer: B
The share of cells in a phase matches the share of time spent in it: 180 ÷ 200 = 0.9, and 0.9 × 24 = 21.6 hours. The answer 2.4 hours is the time for all the mitosis phases together.
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Question 5
A human skin cell with 46 chromosomes divides by mitosis. Which describes each daughter cell?
Correct answer: B
Mitosis copies the chromosomes once and splits them evenly, so each daughter cell gets the same 46 chromosomes as the parent. Halving and new gene combinations happen only in meiosis.
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Question 6
Which event in meiosis I produces many different combinations of maternal and paternal chromosomes in gametes?
Correct answer: A
Each homologous pair lines up at metaphase I independently of the others. With 23 pairs in humans, this independent assortment alone allows 223, about 8.4 million, combinations.
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Question 7
Down syndrome is usually caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 in every body cell. Which error most often causes this?
Correct answer: C
In nondisjunction, chromosomes fail to separate during meiosis, so a gamete gets two copies of chromosome 21. After fertilization, the zygote has three copies, and every cell inherits them. A mitosis error in one skin cell would not affect the whole body.
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Question 8
Which statement best describes cancer cells?
Correct answer: D
Cancer develops when mutations damage the genes that control cell cycle checkpoints. The cells then divide over and over, even when they should stop.
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Question 9
What happens during anaphase II of meiosis?
Correct answer: D
Meiosis II works like mitosis: in anaphase II the sister chromatids are pulled apart. Homologous chromosomes are separated earlier, in anaphase I.
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Question 10
The body cells of a fruit fly have 8 chromosomes (2n = 8). How many chromosomes are in a fruit fly egg cell?
Correct answer: B
Egg cells are made by meiosis, which halves the chromosome number, so n = 8 ÷ 2 = 4. Fertilization later restores the number to 8.
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