Topic 1: Cell biology 
This page contains multiple choice questions in the style of Paper 1 of the Biology exams.
They test the breadth of your knowledge of the understandings and skills about cell biology.
To spend more time reviewing the topic before answering these questions, use the revision resources.
Cell biology revision resources
This page lists the understandings and skills expected for Topic 1 and links to the sub-topic pages which contain detailed revision notes, activities and past paper style questions. Great for revision.
Learn from any mistakes. Every question has an examiner's explanation that appears when you check your answers.
Huntington's Disease (HD) is a brain disorder that affects a person's ability to talk, and move. HD is caused by a faulty protein. The job of the protein is to direct vesicles containing important molecules to the outside of the cell. The chemicals are released when the vesicle reaches the membrane.
What is the name given to the release of chemicals by a cell in this way?
This is a type of secretion, the vesicle fuses with the plasma membrane and its contents are released. This is called "exocytosis".
Cells today come from pre-existing cells. The origin of the fist cell must be different.
Where do biologists think the first cell came from?
The first cell must have come from non-living material. This material must have contained molecules which today we consider as organic, carbon containing molecules.
What effect does reducing the amount of cholesterol in a cell membrane have on its properties?
Cholesterol is a component of animal cell membranes. Application: Cholesterol in mammalian membranes reduces membrane fluidity and permeability to some solutes.
The electron microscope image below shows an organelle found in both animal and plant cells.
What is the name of the organelle?
Know how to idenfity the organelles in eukaryotes and draw their compartmentalised structure.
The rER has parallel membranes covered in dots, which are ribosomes, used for making proteins, for secretion from the cell.
The electron microscope image below shows a ciliated epithelial cell from the trachea.
What is the name of the organelle labelled X?
If you found a eukaryote cell in an electron microscope image, and it contained a lot of rER, Golgi apparatus and many darkly stained vesicles, what do you think the function of the cell is most likely to be?
(eg. goblet cells which make mucus (a protien) will contain lots of rER and vesicles of musus, and palisade mesophyll cells which do photosynthesis will contain lots of chloroplasts)
This electron microscope image shows a group of prokaryotes.
What structures are most likely to be found inside these cells?
Skill: you should know how to draw prokaryotic cells (with a cell wall, plasma membrane, cytoplasm, pili, flagella, 70s ribosomes and nucleoid.) and eukaryotic cells (free 80s ribosomes, rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER), lysosome, Golgi apparatus, mitochondrion and nucleus)
There are seven processes which are said to be possessed by all living things.
This sweet pea plant has grown a tendril around some string, to help support its upward growth.
Which of the characteristics of living things is illustrated in this photo?
The characteristics of living things (Mr H. Gren - metabolism, response, , homeostasis, growth, reproduction, excretion & nutrition)
The fly is responding to the closing trap, and the trap has responded to the presence of the fly.
What is the importance of surface area to volume ratio to cells?
Surface area to volume ratio is important in the limitation of cell size. The lager the volume, the greater the need for materials which have to be exchanged over the surface of the cell.
If you know someone with a disease that might be cured by stem cell therapy then you might be a supporter of this research. You probably also know that some other people have deep concerns.
Which of the following is not a potential benefit of the use of stem cells?
There are ethical concerns about the use of embryo stem cells.
The research is expensive, and potential treatments are also likely to be expensive, and probably not available to all.
Many people who are against stem cells say that it is because cells are taken from human embryos, which have the potential for human live, and should be protected. There are other sources of stem cells, they argue.
Which of the following are methods by which molecules can move across membranes?
- Simple diffusion
- Facilitated diffusion
- Cytokinesis
- Active transport
There are actually four types of membrane transport which are required in DP Biology, Simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis and active transport.
Cells are often stored in isotonic conditions because they can be damaged in other concentrations, hypertonic, or hypotonic. Which of the descriptions of hypertonic is the most accurate?
Hypertonic solutions have a higher concentration of solutes, and lower water potentials than cells.
The 64 codons in the genetic code give rise to the same amino acids in nearly all organisms.
There is very little variation. This is evidence for a single common origin of life.
Differences in the frequency of amino acid use reflects the different genes in the two organisms.
Which of the following are methods by which molecules can move across membranes?
I. Simple diffusion
II. Facilitated diffusion
III. Cytokinesis
IV. Active transport
There are actually four types of membrane transport which are required in DP Biology, Simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis and active transport.
What best describes the organism in the light microscope image?
It is unicellular (one cell) and a eukaryote (has a nucleus) and not autotrophic.
Why is a fungal hypha an exception to the cell theory?
A fungal hypha has many nuclei in a hypha but no cross walls to divide the hypha into cells.
The diagram is of a plasma membrane. Which label corresponds to a protein channel?
Protein channels cross the membrane to allow hydrophilic substances to pass through the membrane.
The image is a ribbon model of a channel protein. Where would this be found in a plasma membrane?
Channel proteins penetrate the membrane and have a central hydrophilic area (yellow in the diagram which is shown from above).
Which of the following contributed to the acceptance of the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure of Singer and Nicholson in place of the original Davison-Danielli model?
I Hydrophobic membrane proteins
II Irregular sizes of membrane proteins
III Increased magnification of light microscopes.
IV Fluorescent antibody tagging.
The irregular sizes and insolubility of hydrophobic membrane proteins indicated that they could not be a surface layer as proposed by Davison-Danielli. This was confirmed by fluoresecent antibodies showing that proteins were both within and on the membrane.
Which of the following is the best description of an organelle?
The "wrong" answers are correct statements but are distractors, not the best description.
Refresh this page to try a new set of 20 multiple choice questions. The questions will be different next time you visit. Great revision.
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