Exam Questions AQA

Trilogy
INHERITANCE
VARIATION AND
EVOLUTION

Q1-6 Foundation Tier

Q3-9 Higher Tier

Markscheme at the end of all questions.

Page 1 of 29
Q1.
In sexual reproduction, an egg fuses with a sperm.

(a) (i) Draw a ring around the correct answer to complete the sentence.

cloning.
An egg and a sperm fuse together in the process of fertilisation.
mitosis.
(1)

(ii) Egg cells and sperm cells each contain the structures given in the box.

chromosome gene nucleus

List these three structures in size order, starting with the smallest.

1 ____________________________________________________ (smallest)

2 ____________________________________________________________

3 _____________________________________________________ (largest)
(2)

(iii) The egg and the sperm contain genetic material.

Draw a ring around the correct answer to complete the sentence.

carbohydrate.
The genetic material is made of DNA.
protein.
(1)

(b) The diagram below shows the inheritance of X and Y chromosomes.

Page 2 of 29
 (i) Draw a tick ( ) on the part of the diagram that shows a sperm cell.
(1)

(ii) What is the chance of having a female child?

Give the reason for your answer.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(2)
(Total 7 marks)

Q2.
Figure 1 shows a photograph of a fossil of a trilobite.

Figure 1

(a) When were trilobites alive?

Tick one box.

Page 3 of 29
 Between 20 and 50 years ago.

Between 20 and 50 thousand years ago.

Between 200 and 500 thousand years ago.

Between 200 and 500 million years ago.

(1)

(b) Suggest how the fossil in Figure 1 was formed.

Tick one box.

The organism left a footprint behind.

The organism was buried by rocks.

The organism was frozen in ice.

The organism was replaced by minerals.

(1)

(c) Trilobites are extinct.

What does extinct mean?

Tick one box.

The species evolved into another species.

The species does not have any soft tissue parts.

There are no organisms of that species alive today.

There are not enough of the species alive to reproduce.

(1)

(d) Hyoliths are another type of fossil. Hyoliths were discovered in the 1800s and
thought to be a type of snail.

In 2017 scientists used modern techniques to place hyoliths into a different group.

Suggest a modern technique that the scientists may have used.

Tick one box.

Page 4 of 29
 DNA analysis

Genetic modification

Light microscopy

Selective breeding

(1)

(e) Which scientist developed the traditional classification system for all living
organisms?

____________________
(1)

The fossil record is used to draw evolutionary trees.

Figure 2 shows an evolutionary tree for a group of dinosaurs.

Figure 2

(f) Suggest which two of these dinosaurs are most closely related.

____________________ and ____________________

(1)

(g) Name a common ancestor of Triceratops and Leptoceratops.

___________________________________________________________________
(1)

(h) How does the fossil record provide evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution?

Tick one box.

Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago.

Page 5 of 29
 Fossils have been found in most countries of the world.

Older fossils have a simpler structure.

Trilobites belong to the arthropod group of animals.

(1)
(Total 8 marks)

Q3.
This question is about reproduction.

(a) Complete the sentences.

Choose answers from the box.

asexual clones eggs gametes

meiosis mitosis sexual variation

Identical offspring are produced by ____________________ reproduction.

These offspring are called ____________________ .

In another form of reproduction male and female ____________________

join at fertilisation.

This leads to ____________________ in the offspring.

The embryo grows by a type of cell division called ____________________ .

(5)

(b) The body cells of a kangaroo have 16 chromosomes.

How many chromosomes will an egg cell of a kangaroo have?

Tick one box.

4 8 16 32

(1)

(c) Which sex chromosomes will be in the body cells of a male kangaroo?

Tick one box.

XX XZ XY YZ

(1)

Different species of animal have different numbers of chromosomes in their body cells.

Page 6 of 29
The table shows the chromosome number of some species.

Number of
Species of animal chromosomes in each
body cell

Giraffe 62

Human 46

Kangaroo 16

Snail 24

Zebra fish 50

(d) Plot the data from the table for the snail and for the zebra fish on the graph.

(2)

(e) Look at the graph.

How many more chromosomes are there in the body cells of giraffes than in the
body cells of animal X?

___________________________________________________________________

Number of chromosomes = ____________________

(1)

(f) A student concluded:

‘the bigger an animal, the more chromosomes it has in each body cell.’

This is not a valid conclusion.

Page 7 of 29
 Give one reason why.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
(1)
(Total 11 marks)

Q4.
Glyphosate is a herbicide.

Crop plants have been genetically modified to make them resistant to glyphosate.

(a) Why is it an advantage to make crop plants resistant to glyphosate?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
(3)

(b) Figure 1 shows how scientists produce genetically modified (GM) crop plants.

The scientists use a GM-bacterium that can invade plant cells.

Page 8 of 29
(i) The ring of DNA shown in Figure 1 acts as a vector for the resistance
gene.

What is the scientific name for this ring of DNA?

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(ii) At step 1 in Figure 1, the ring of DNA is cut open.

Page 9 of 29
 How do scientists cut open the ring of DNA?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(iii) At step 5 in Figure 1, plant cells and GM-bacteria are put on agar
containing glyphosate.

Explain why the scientists add glyphosate to the agar.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(2)

(c) Some people disagree with the use of GM herbicide-resistant crop plants.

Figure 2 shows data published on a website in 2013.

Page 10 of 29
 A journalist used the data to claim: ‘Scientists show that GM crops cause kidney
disease in humans.’

Use information from Figure 2 to evaluate the evidence for this claim.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
(4)
(Total 11 marks)

Q5.
The Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) is a mammal that was once extinct in the wild.

The image shows an Arabian oryx.

(a) What is the genus of the Arabian oryx?

Tick one box.

Page 11 of 29
 leucoryx Oryx Oryx leucoryx

(1)

(b) Give two adaptations of the Arabian oryx to living in hot desert environments.

Use information from the image.

1. _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
(2)

(c) The Arabian oryx uses its long horns to fight for territory and mates.

Describe how the long horns could have evolved.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
(3)

Arabian oryx from many different zoos were interbred so that they could be reintroduced
to the wild.

(d) What is the name of this method of increasing the population of endangered
animals?

Tick one box.

Breeding programme

Genetic modification

Natural selection

Selective breeding

(1)

(e) Explain why it was important to use Arabian oryx from many different zoos instead of

Page 12 of 29
 one zoo.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
(1)
(Total 8 marks)

Q6.
The diagram shows part of a DNA molecule.

(a) (i) In which part of an animal cell is DNA found?

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(ii) Complete the following sentence.

The letters A, C, G and T in the diagram represent four different compounds

called __________________________ .
(1)

(iii) One strand of the DNA, in the section labelled X, contains the following
sequence of these compounds:

T A T G G G T C T T C G

How many amino acids would this section of the DNA code for?
(1)

(iv) The section of DNA described in part (a) (iii) is a small part of a gene.

The sequence of compounds A, C, G and T in the gene is important.

Explain why.

______________________________________________________________

Page 13 of 29
 ______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(2)

(b) Read the following information about genetic engineering.

The caterpillar of the European Corn Borer moth feeds on the fruits of maize (sweet
corn). There is a chemical called Bt-toxin which is poisonous to the corn borer
caterpillar but not to humans.

Scientists carried out the following steps.

1. The Scientists made a bacterial plasmid to which they added two genes:
• Bt gene, which coded for production of the Bt-toxin
• kanr gene, which coded for resistance to an antibiotic called kanamycin.

2. They used this plasmid to produce genetically modified bacteria which could
invade plant cells.

3. They mixed these genetically modified bacteria with pieces cut from maize
leaves.

4. They placed the pieces of maize leaf on agar jelly in a Petri dish. The agar jelly
contained the antibiotic, kanamycin. The kanamycin killed most of the pieces
of maize leaf, but a few survived.

5. They took some cells from the surviving pieces of maize leaf and grew them in
tissue culture.

The result was maize plants that now contained the Bt gene, as well as the kanr
gene, in all of their cells.

(i) What is a plasmid (Step 1)?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(2)

(ii) Why did the scientists add kanamycin to the agar jelly (Step 4)?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Page 14 of 29
 (2)

(iii) The scientists grew each Bt-maize plant from a single cell which contained the
Bt gene.

Explain why all the cells in the Bt-maize plant contained the Bt gene.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(2)

(iv) Kanamycin is an antibiotic.

Some scientists are concerned that the gene for kanamycin resistance has
been put into maize.

Suggest why.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(2)
(Total 13 marks)

Q7.
Polydactyly is an inherited condition caused by a dominant allele.

(a) The figure below shows the hand of a man with polydactyly. The man has an extra
finger on each hand.

The man’s mother also has polydactyly but his father does not.

Page 15 of 29
 © Ifness/iStock

(i) The man is heterozygous for polydactyly.

Explain how the information given above shows that the man is heterozygous
for polydactyly.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(3)

(ii) The man marries a woman who does not have polydactyly.

What is the probability that their first child will have polydactyly?

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(b) The man has red hair. His sister has brown hair.

Both of their parents have brown hair.

Brown hair is caused by the dominant allele, B.

Red hair is caused by a recessive allele, b.

Complete the genetic diagram below to show how the man’s parents were able to
have some children with red hair and some with brown hair.

Father Mother
Parental phenotypes _________________ _________________

Page 16 of 29
 Parental Genotypes _________________ _________________
Gametes ________ ________ ________ ________

Offspring genotypes: _____________________________________________

Offspring phenotypes: ____________________________________________

(5)
(Total 9 marks)

Q8.
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inherited condition. PKU makes people ill.

(a) PKU is caused by a recessive allele.

(i) What is an allele?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(ii) What is meant by recessive?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(b) The diagram below shows the inheritance of PKU in one family.

(i) Give one piece of evidence from the diagram that PKU is caused by a
recessive allele.

______________________________________________________________

Page 17 of 29
 ______________________________________________________________
(1)

(ii) Persons 6 and 7 are planning to have another child.

Use a genetic diagram to find the probability that the new child will have PKU.

Use the following symbols in your answer:

N = the dominant allele for not having PKU

n = the recessive allele for PKU.

Probability = _________________________
(4)

(c) Persons 6 and 7 wish to avoid having another child with PKU.

A genetic counsellor advises that they could produce several embryos by IVF
treatment.

(i) During IVF treatment, each fertilised egg cell forms an embryo by cell division.

Name this type of cell division.

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(ii) An embryo screening technique could be used to find the genotype of each
embryo.

An unaffected embryo could then be placed in person 7’s uterus.

The screening technique is carried out on a cell from an embryo after just
three cell divisions of the fertilised egg.

How many cells will there be in an embryo after the fertilised egg has

divided three times?

(1)

(iii) During embryo screening, a technician tests the genetic material of the
embryo to find out which alleles are present.

The genetic material is made up of large molecules of a chemical substance.

Name this chemical substance.

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(d) Some people have ethical objections to embryo screening.

(i) Give one ethical objection to embryo screening.

Page 18 of 29
 ______________________________________________________________
(1)

(ii) Give one reason in favour of embryo screening.

______________________________________________________________
(1)
(Total 12 marks)

Q9.
The diagram below shows the production of human sperm cells.

(a) Name the organ where the processes shown in the diagram above take place.

______________________________
(1)

(b) (i) Not every cell in the diagram above contains the same amount of DNA.

Cell A contains 6.6 picograms of DNA (1 picogram = 10-12 grams).

How much DNA is there in each of the following cells?

Cell B _____________ picograms

Cell C _____________ picograms

Cell E _____________ picograms

(2)

(ii) How much DNA would there be in a fertilised egg cell?

_____________________ picograms
(1)

(iii) A fertilised egg cell divides many times to form an embryo.

Page 19 of 29
 Name this type of cell division.

______________________________
(1)

(c) After a baby is born, stem cells may be collected from the umbilical cord. These can
be frozen and stored for possible use in the future.

(i) What are stem cells?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(2)

(ii) Suggest why it is ethically more acceptable to take stem cells from an
umbilical cord instead of using stem cells from a 4-day-old embryo produced
by In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(iii) Stem cells taken from a child’s umbilical cord could be used to treat a
condition later in that child’s life.

Give one advantage of using the child’s own umbilical cord stem cells instead
of using stem cells donated from another person.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(1)

(iv) Why would it not be possible to treat a genetic disorder in a child using his
own umbilical cord stem cells?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
(1)
(Total 10 marks)

Page 20 of 29
Mark schemes

Q1.
(a) (i) fertilisation
1

(ii) in sequence:
accept 1 next to gene, 2 next to chromosome and 3 next to
nucleus in box

1 gene
2 chromosome
3 nucleus
allow 1 mark for smallest or largest in correct position
2

(iii) DNA
1

(b) (i) On diagram:

tick drawn next to X and / or Y from Parent 1

tick(s) must be totally outside grid squares
allow ticks around “parent ”
extra ticks elsewhere cancel
1

(ii) 0.5 / ½ / 50% / 1:1 / 50:50 / 1 in 2

allow 2/4 / 2 in 4 / 2 out of 4 / ‘even(s)’ / ‘fifty – fifty’
do not allow 1:2 or ‘50 / 50’ or ‘50 – 50’
1

2 (out of 4) boxes are XX

or

half of the sperm contain an X-chromosome

allow XY is male and 2 (out of 4) boxes are XY
1
[7]

Q2.
(a) between 200 and 500 million years ago
2

(b) the organism was replaced by minerals

1

(c) there are no organisms of that species alive todays

1

(d) DNA analysis

1
 (e) (Carl) Linnaeus
1

(f) Protoceratops and Triceratops

allow
Coronosaurus and Triceratops
or
Protoceratops and Coronosaurus
or
Marginocephalia and Pachycephalosaurus
1

(g) Marginocephalia
1

(h) older fossils have a simpler structure

1
[8]

Q3.
(a) asexual
1

clones
1

gametes
1

variation
1

mitosis
in this order
1

(b) 8
1

(c) XY
1

(d) both bars correctly plotted

1

correct labels on x-axis

allow labels mark even if bars incorrect
1

(e) 30
1

(f) any one from:

• because zebra fish is small and has high number of chromosomes

 • not all animals are listed

• not enough data

• animals have different sizes during their life but the chromosome number
stays the same
allow other sensible conclusions
1
[11]

Q4.
(a) kills weeds among crops / does not kill crops
1

(kills weeds) so less competition for named factor eg light / water / ions
ignore space
1

crops grow better / higher yield

1

(b) (i) plasmid

1

(ii) use an enzyme

allow correct example
1

(iii) only some cells become GM / take up the plasmid / take up resistance
gene
allow idea of transfer of gene / plasmid to some plant cells
from bacteria
1

GM cells survive / non-GM cells are killed

1

(c) Pro:
(positive) correlation between use of glyphosate and number of cases of
kidney disease
allow 1 mark for justified conclusion that the claim is not
justified
1

+ any three from:

Con:
• lack of controls / control group
• correlation does not prove a causal link
• some other factor could be the cause
accept obesity / infection
• no evidence that kidney patients actually consumed GM crops / crops
treated with glyphosate / no evidence about amount consumed
or graph shows amount of herbicide not amount of GM crops grown
or graph shows data only for maize and soya / not for other (GM) crops
• data have been manipulated by carefully chosen scales to make it look
 like they coincide
• data from some years is missing
• no data for the dosage of herbicide used
allow kidney disease has been around for much longer than
GM crops / better diagnosis of kidney disease.
3
[11]

Q5.
(a) Oryx
1

(b) any two from:

• white / light colour (to reduce thermal gain)
• short fur (to reduce thermal insulation)
• little body fat
• large hooves (to walk in sand)
• camouflaged (against sand by light colour)
2

(c) any three from:

• variation in population
• animals with longest horns more likely to survive / reproduce
• passing on alleles for long horns
• repeated over many generations
3

(d) breeding programme

1

(e) any one from:

• to increase genetic diversity
do not accept to increase biodiversity
• species may be unable to cope if environment changes
• all susceptible to same diseases / inbreeding problems
allow otherwise all offspring would have similar genes or a
decreased gene pool
• prevents inbreeding
1
[8]

Q6.
(a) (i) nucleus
correct spelling only
accept mitochondrion
ignore genes / genetic material / chromosomes
1

(ii) base(s)
Accept all four correct names of bases
ignore nucleotides and refs to organic / N-containing
1
 (iii) 4
1

(iv) codes for sequence / order of amino acids

ignore references to characteristics
1

codes for a (specific) protein / enzyme

or

the sequence / order of three bases / compounds / letters

codes for a specific amino acid

or

the sequence / order of 3 bases / compounds / letters

codes for the order / sequence of amino acids

1

(b) (i) DNA

1

circular / a ring or a vector / described

1

(ii) kills any cells not having kanr gene / so only cells with kanr gene survive
1

hence surviving cells will also contain Bt gene / plasmid

1

(iii) cells divide by mitosis

ignore ref to asexual reproduction
correct spelling only
1

genetic information is copied / each cell receives a copy of (all) the

gene(s) / all cells produced are genetically identical / form a clone
1

(iv) any two from:

• gene may be passed to pathogenic bacteria

• cannot then kill these pathogens with kanamycin
or
cannot treat disease with kanamycin
• may need to develop new antibiotics
• gene may get into other organisms
• outcome unpredictable
2
[13]

Q7.
 (a) (i) man has (inherited) polydactyly (PD) allele (from mother)
1

man has (inherited) other / normal / recessive allele from father

1

because father does not have PD allele or if father had it father would have
had PD or father only has normal allele or father is homozygous recessive
1
allow gene for allele

(ii) 0.5 / ½ / 1 in 2 / 1:1 / 50%

do not allow 1:2 or 50/50
allow 50:50
1

(b) parental phenotypes: both brown

1

parental genotypes: both Bb

1

gametes: B b and B b
1
allow only on gametes answer line
allow ecf from genotypes

offspring genotypes: BB (2)Bb bb

allow ecf from gametes
1

offspring phenotypes correctly assigned to genotypes:

BB & Bb = brown bb = red
do not penalise confusion of ‘phenotypes’ & ‘genotypes’ here
1
[9]

Q8.
(a) (i) one form of a / one gene
do not allow ‘a type of gene’
allow a mutation of a gene
1

(ii) not expressed if dominant / other allele is present / if heterozygous

or

only expressed if dominant allele not present / or no other allele present

allow need two copies to be expressed / not expressed if
only one copy / only expressed if homozygous
1

(b) (i) two parents without PKU produce a child with PKU / 6 and 7 → 10
allow ‘it skips a generation’
 1

(ii) genetic diagram including:

accept alternative symbols if defined

Parental gametes:

6: N and n
and 7: N and n
1

derivation of offspring genotypes:

NN Nn Nn nn
allow genotypes correctly derived from student’s parental
gametes
1

identification: NN and Nn as non-PKU

OR nn as PKU
allow correct identification of student’s offspring genotypes
1

correct probability only: 0.25 / ¼ / 1 in 4 / 25% / 1 : 3

do not allow 3 : 1 / 1 : 4
do not allow if extra incorrect probabilities given
1

(c) (i) mitosis

correct spelling only
1

(ii) 8
1

(iii) DNA
allow deoxyribonucleic acid
do not allow RNA / ribonucleic acid
1

(d) (i) may lead to damage to embryo / may destroy embryos / embryo cannot
give consent
allow avoid abortion
allow emotive terms – eg murder religious argument must be
qualified
allow ref to miscarriage
allow idea of avoiding prejudice against disabled people
allow idea of not producing designer babies
1

(ii) any one from:

• prevent having child with the disorder / prevent future suffering /

reduce incidence of the disease
 ignore ref to having a healthy child
ignore ref to selection of gender
• embryo cells could be used in stem cell treatment
allow ref to long term cost of treating a child (with a disorder)
allow ref to time for parents to become prepared
1
[12]

Q9.
(a) testis / testes
allow testicle(s)
1

(b) (i) B = 13.2

C = 6.6
E = 3.3
all 3 correct = 2 marks
2 or 1 correct = 1 mark
If no marks awarded allow ecf for C and E based on answer
to B
ie C = ½ B and E = ½ C for one mark
2

(ii) 6.6
allow twice answer for cell E in part bi
1

(iii) mitosis
correct spelling only
1

(c) (i) any two from:

• cells that are able to divide
• undifferentiated cells / not specialised
• can become other types of cells / tissues or become specialised
/differentiated
allow pluripotent
2

(ii) 4-day embryo is a (potential) human life

or

destroying/damaging (potential) human life

allow cord would have been discarded anyway
ignore reference to miscarriage
allow cannot give consent
1

(iii) perfect tissue match or hard to find suitable donors

allow same/matching antigens
allow no danger of rejection
 allow no need to take immunosuppressant drugs (for life)
ignore genetically identical or same DNA
1

(iv) stem cells have same faulty gene / allele / DNA / chromosomes
allow genetically identical
ignore cells have the same genetic disorder
1
[10]