MCQ: ORIGIN OF LIFE

 

MCQ:  ORIGIN OF LIFE

1. Who proved biogenesis by using the goose-neck flask?

            a. Louis Pasteur

            b. Abbe Spallanzani

            c. Francisco Redi

            d. Joseph Needham

Correct answer: a Louis Pasteur proved with the goose-neck flask that air contains spores of microorganisms. Thus, the biogenesis theory was strongly supported by Pasteur's experiment.

2. Who wrote the book titled 'The Origin of Life on Earth'?

            a. Charles Darwin

            b. A.I. Oparin

            c. Ernst Haeckel

            d. Louis Pasteur

Correct answer: b, A.I. Oparin presented the biochemical explanation of the origin of life in his book 'The Origin of Life on Earth'.

3. What did the primitive atmosphere of Earth contain?

            a. Oxygen, Ammonia, and Methane

            b. Carbon-di-oxide, Ammonia and Methane

            c.Carbon dioxide, Oxygen, and Methane

            d. Water, methane, and ammonia

Correct answer: The primitive atmosphere of Earth had water, methane, and ammonia.

 

4. Which were the first formed organisms that are supposed to be a link between living and non-living?

            a. Bacteria

            b. Viruses

            c. Blue-green algae

            d. Amoeba

Correct answer: b, Viruses are the link between living and non-living; so they might be the first organisms to be formed from a non-living environment.

5. According to which theory is life distributed throughout the cosmos in the form of resistant spores of living organisms?

            a. Theory of Panspermia

            b. Theory of special creation

            c. Theory of eternity

            d. Theory of biogenesis

Correct answer: a, According to the theory of Panspermia, life is distributed throughout the cosmos in the form of resistant spores of living organisms known as cosmozoa.

6. Which theory is supported by Nobel Prize-winning scientist H. F. C. Crick?

            a. Theory of eternity

            b. Theory of Panspermia

            c. Theory of special creation

            d. Theory of biogenesis

Correct Answer: b, According to the theory of panspermia, life is distributed throughout the cosmos in the form of resistant spores of living forms known as cosmozoa. This theory was supported by H. F. C. Crick in his book 'Life Itself - Its Origin and Nature'.

7. The event of formation of Earth and other planets by the explosion of a single homogenous matter, i.e. yelm, was termed as

            a. Special creation

            b. Eternity

            c. Biogenesis

            d. Big-bang

Correct answer: The event of formation of Earth and other planets by the explosion of a single homogenous matter, i.e. Yelm, was termed as the big bang.

8. What is referred to by Haldane as 'the hot dilute soup'?

            a. A sea containing derivatives of only hydrocarbons

            b. A sea containing molecules of organic substances

            c. A sea of simple compounds

            d. A sea of minerals

Correct Answer: b, A sea containing organic substances, which on polymerization can give rise to bio-molecules, was termed as hot dilute soup.

9. What is the process of formation of living cells from inorganic and organic compounds called?

            a. Biogenesis

            b. Abiogenesis

            c. Special creation

            d. Panspermia

Correct Answer: b, the first living cell arose from simple inorganic and organic compounds; a phenomenon called abiogenesis

10. What did Oparin named nucleic acids which were capable to replicate but were not surrounded by any membrane?

            a. Coacervates

            b. Protovirus

            c. Eobionts

            d. Free genes

Correct Answer: d, Free genes were capable of replicating themselves but were not membrane-bound.

11. The first formed primary organisms were named as

            a. Protovirus

            b. Coacervates

            c. Protists

            d. Eobionts

Correct Answer: d, Eobionts were the first formed primary organisms that appeared during the early period.

12. What was the source of energy for earlier autotrophs?

            a. Solar energy

            b. Wind energy

            c. Anaerobic breakdown

            d. Magnesium porphyrin

Correct answer: c, The energy for autotrophism was totally obtained from anaerobic breakdown.

13. Which gas converted the earlier reducing atmosphere into oxidizing one?

            a. Carbon dioxide

            b. oxygen

            c. Hydrogen

            d. Methane

Correct answer: The free oxygen produced by the blue-green algae converted the atmosphere from reducing into oxidizing.

14. Who proposed the symbiotic theory of the origin of organisms?

            a. Miller and Urey

            b. Wallin

            c. Uzzell and Spolsky

            d. Ris and Plant

Correct answer: b, Wallin gave symbiotic theory.

15. What did the Miller-Urey's experiment prove?

            a. Biochemical theory of the origin of life

            b. Theory of spontaneous generation

            c. Theory of eternity

            d. Theory of biogenesis

Correct answer: a Miller and Urey showed that amino acids like glycine and alanine and even more complex compounds can be synthesized in vitro and proved the biochemical theory of origin of life.

16. Which of the following statements is false apropos to the origin of the universe?

            a. Nebula was the cloud of dust which was the initial form of the solar system.

            b. Ylem was the cloud of dust that condensed to form the Earth.

            c. Planetary nebula was the cloud of dust that condensed to form planets.

            d. Earth was a hot ball of gases and vapors of various elements initially.

Correct answer: c, Planetary nebula is created when a main-sequence star grows into a red giant and casts off its outer layers.

17. Coacervates were the first entities formed during the evolution of life. Which of the following sentences is incorrect about coacervates?

            a. Coacervates was surrounded by a film of water.

            b. Coacervates contained proteins and nucleoprotein.

            c. Molecules in coacervates were held together by hydrogen bonds.

            d. Coacervates were colloidal in nature.

Correct answer: c, Molecules in coacervates were held together by electrostatic forces.

18. during the biological evolution of life, the association of microspheres with lipoproteins and nucleic acids gave rise to which of the following?

            a. Protovirus

            b. Coacervates

            c. Eobionts

            d. Free genes

Correct answer: c, Microspheres associated with lipoprotein membranes and nucleic acids to produce eobionts. Eobionts were the primary organisms formed during the biological evolution of life.

19. During biological evolution, Coacervates i.e. an aggregate of colloidal droplets held together by electrostatic attractive forces were formed. These Coacervates developed into

            a. Cosmozoa

            b.Protovirus

            c. Eobionts

            d. Microspheres

Correct answer: d, Coacervate molecules split and reunited again and again and developed the ability to grow and divide giving rise to Micro-spheres which got associated with lipoprotein, membrane, and nucleic acids to produce eobionts.

20. Van Helmont & Joseph Needham were the proponents of

            a. Spontaneous generation

            b. Biogenesis

            c. Panspermia

            d. Special creation

Correct answer: Van Helmont & Joseph Needham were the proponents of the theory of spontaneous generation. Van Helmont described the production of mice from wheat, grains, and sweaty shirt kept in a pot for 21 days. In 1747, Joseph Needham demonstrated the spontaneous origin of minute organisms in the infusion which he boiled for a few minutes in a corked flask

21. To prove the origin of organic molecules, Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey in 1953 created an artificial atmosphere. It consisted of everything, except

            a. Methane

            b. Oxygen

            c. Hydrogen sulfide

            d. Ammonia

Correct answer: Oxygen was absent in the atmosphere created by Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey in 1953 because they wanted to create an atmosphere that existed when Earth came into existence. Oxygen was absent in the atmosphere at that time.

22. According to a study conducted in 2015 and on the basis of ancient rocks in Western Australia, the common ancestor for biotic life lived on the Earth around

            a. 3.5-3.8 billion years ago

            b. 4.1 billion years ago

            c. 4.1 million years ago

            d. 3.5-3.8 million years ago

Correct Answer: b, According to a study conducted in 2015 and on the basis of ancient rocks in Western Australia, the common ancestor for biotic life lived on the Earth for around 4.1 billion years ago. Remains of biotic life from 4.1 billion years ago were found in ancient rocks in Western Australia.

23. Directions: Choose the option that states if the given sentences are true or false. (T stands for True and F stands for False)

1. The first cellular forms of life evolved 3 billion years back.
2. First life forms originated in the water environment.
3. Primitive Earth had an oxidizing atmosphere

            a. 1 - T, 2 - T, 3 – T

            b. 1 - T, 2 - T, 3 – F

            c. 1 - F, 2 - T, 3 – F

            d. 1 - F, 2 - T, 3 – T

Correct answer: c, 1^st sentence is false as acellular forms of life evolved 3 billion years back. 2nd sentence is true as the first life forms originated in water and the 3rd sentence is false as primitive Earth's atmosphere was reducing as there was no oxygen

24. Louis Pasteur used which of the following substances as growth medium(s) while conducting experiments to disprove abiogenesis?

            a. Cooked fish

            b. Meat extract+ sugar

            c. Yeast powder+ sugar

            d. Sugar

Correct answer: c, Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1875), by his experimentation on pre-sterilized yeast powder and sugar mixture demonstrated that life originates from preexisting life. Thus, disproving the theory of abiogenesis

 

25. Match the terms in column A with their meanings in column B:

Column A	Column B
1. Biopoiesis	a. Evolutionary history of organisms
2. Biogeny	b. Life originates from life
3. Chemogeny	c. Origin of organisms from non-living matter
4. Biogenesis	d. Origin of organic molecules

 

            a. 1 - c, 2 - a, 3 - d, 4 – b

            b. 1 - d, 2 - a, 3 - c, 4 – b

            c. 1 - a, 2 - c, 3 - d, 4 – b

            d. 1 - c, 2 - b, 3 - d, 4 – a

Correct answer: a Biopoiesis is a process by which living organisms are thought to develop from non-living matter, Biogeny is the evolutionary history of organisms. Chemogeny refers to the origin of organic molecules and Biogenesis is the principle that a living the organism must originate from a parent organism similar to itself, i.e. life originates from life.

 

 

26. Primitive cell-like chemical aggregates capable of growth and division were

            a. Chemoautotrophs

            b. Eobionts

            c. Microspheres

            d. Prokaryotes

Correct answer: Primitive cell-like chemical aggregates capable of growth and division were microspheres. They had the ability to grow and divide.

27. The reducing atmosphere of the primitive Earth, turned to an oxidizing atmosphere, just after the origin of

            a. Sulfur bacteria

            b. Coacervates

            c. Free genes

            d. Cyanobacteria

Correct Answer: d, Oceanic cyanobacteria, which evolved into coordinated macroscopic forms more than 2.3 billion years ago, are believed to have become the first microbes to produce oxygen by photosynthesis.

28. The experimental proof for amino-acids made in the primitive ocean was given by

            a. Oparin

            b. Raff

            c. Miller

            d. Haldane

Correct answer: Stanley Miller with Harold Urey gave the first experimental proof that amino acids were made in the primitive ocean by taking a mixture of water vapor, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen and exposing it to electrical discharges.