CBNS 121 PRACTICE MIDTERM QUESTIONS
1.) What embryonic germ layer gives rise to the nervous system?
a. Endoderm
b. Mesoderm
c. Ectoderm
d. Ectoplasm - Answers - C. Ectoderm
2.) What is true of the Spemann-Mangold organizer?
a. Noggin is expressed there
b. It is capable of inducing neural tissue
c. It is also known as the dorsal lip of the blastopore
d. Its' analogous structure in the chicken is Henson's node
e. All of the above - Answers - E. AOTB
3.) What early brain region gives rise to the thalamus?
a. Prosencephalon
b. Rhombencephalon
c. Mesencephalon
d. Holoprosencephalon - Answers - A. Prosencephalon
4.) What are Hox genes responsible for?
a. Neural induction
b. Body segment identity in flies
c. Glial fate
d. Rhombomere specification in mice
e. A and B
f. B and D - Answers - F. B and D
5.) What do you expect to happen if the retinoic acid (RA) receptor was blocked in
early developing tadpoles?
a. Lack of anterior (head) structures
b. Lack of posterior neural structures
c. Legs grow prematurely
d. The tadpole can now communicate telepathically - Answers - B. Lack of posterior
neural structures
6.) What pair/s of genes form a border at the midbrain-hindbrain border (isthmus)?
a. Otx2 and Gbx2
b. Wnt1 and Fgf8
c. Shh and Gbx2
d. A and B
e. A and C - Answers - D. A and B
7.) What gene(s) are/is responsible for inducing ventral fates in the neural tube?
