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AP Biology DNA Structure and Function — practice questions

Explore 83 free DNA Structure and Function questions in AP Biology Biology. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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DNA Structure and Function questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 83.

DNA was first isolated from white blood cells in the 1860s by:Read the answer and worked solution →Griffith named his isolated nuclear chemicals nuclein because they came from the cell's:Read the answer and worked solution →How many hydrogen bonds hold an adenine and thymine pair together?Read the answer and worked solution →How many hydrogen bonds hold a cytosine and guanine pair together?Read the answer and worked solution →The diameter of the DNA double helix is:Read the answer and worked solution →Griffith's 1928 experiments with Streptococcus pneumoniae demonstrated:Read the answer and worked solution →Griffith's R strain of pneumococcus is called rough because it:Read the answer and worked solution →Injecting mice with live R strain mixed with heat-killed S strain resulted in:Read the answer and worked solution →The follow-up experiment that identified the transforming principle showed transformation failed when which molecule was degraded?Read the answer and worked solution →In the Hershey and Chase centrifugation, the heavier bacterial cells ended up in the:Read the answer and worked solution →The two strands of a DNA double helix are antiparallel, meaning one runs 5' to 3' and the other runs:Read the answer and worked solution →Purines differ from pyrimidines structurally because purines have:Read the answer and worked solution →Each base pair sits how far from the next along the helix?Read the answer and worked solution →How many base pairs are there in one complete turn of the DNA helix?Read the answer and worked solution →The phosphodiester bond of the DNA backbone joins which two carbons?Read the answer and worked solution →Rosalind Franklin did not share the Nobel Prize for the DNA structure because:Read the answer and worked solution →A limitation of Sanger's original sequencing method is that it can read:Read the answer and worked solution →Order the DNA discoveriesRead the answer and worked solution →Purine or pyrimidine?Read the answer and worked solution →Measure the double helixRead the answer and worked solution →Match each scientist to their findingRead the answer and worked solution →True or false: DNA structureRead the answer and worked solution →Complete the helix geometryRead the answer and worked solution →The human haploid genome contains about how many base pairs?Read the answer and worked solution →Friedrich Miescher named the phosphate-rich chemical from white blood cell nuclei:Read the answer and worked solution →Mice injected with heat-killed S strain plus live R strain died. Griffith's 1928 finding is called:Read the answer and worked solution →Avery, MacLeod and McCarty (1944) showed the transforming principle was:Read the answer and worked solution →Hershey and Chase labelled phage DNA with radioactive:Read the answer and worked solution →Chargaff's rules state that the amount of adenine equals the amount of:Read the answer and worked solution →Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in:Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

DNA was first isolated from white blood cells in the 1860s by:

  1. Miescher
  2. Griffith
  3. Franklin
  4. Chargaff
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Correct answer: A. Miescher

1. The molecule was purified decades before anyone knew what it did. 2. DNA was first isolated from white blood cells by Miescher in the 1860s. 3. He named these chemicals nuclein because they were isolated from the nuclei of the cells. 4. Griffith's transformation work came more than fifty years later. _Source: OpenStax Biology for AP(R) Courses (CC BY 4.0), Ch 14 'DNA Structure and Function', sections 14.1-14.6_

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Griffith named his isolated nuclear chemicals nuclein because they came from the cell's:

  1. Mitochondria
  2. Cell nuclei
  3. Ribosomes
  4. Membranes
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Correct answer: B. Cell nuclei

1. The name records where the substance was found rather than what it does. 2. The chemicals in question would eventually be known as RNA and DNA. 3. He named these chemicals nuclein because they were isolated from the nuclei of the cells. 4. Ribosomes and mitochondria were not even identified at the time. _Source: OpenStax Biology for AP(R) Courses (CC BY 4.0), Ch 14 'DNA Structure and Function', sections 14.1-14.6_

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How many hydrogen bonds hold an adenine and thymine pair together?

  1. Two bonds
  2. Three bonds
  3. Four bonds
  4. One bond
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Correct answer: A. Two bonds

1. Base pairs are stabilised by hydrogen bonds, but not all pairs equally. 2. Adenine and thymine form two hydrogen bonds. 3. Cytosine and guanine form three hydrogen bonds. 4. That difference is why sequences rich in C and G are harder to separate. _Source: OpenStax Biology for AP(R) Courses (CC BY 4.0), Ch 14 'DNA Structure and Function', sections 14.1-14.6_

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