Lesson 3.8.1.2

3.8.1.2 Stem cells and their use Quiz: AQA Biology, Unit 8

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 3.8.1.2, Stem cells and their use: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Biology (7402), Unit 8: The control of gene expression, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What can a totipotent cell do?

    • Produce only blood cells and their precursors
    • Produce only one type of specialised cell
    • Produce only the cells of one tissue
    • Divide and produce any type of body cell

  2. Pluripotent cells are best described as:

    • Cells that can produce any cell in the body, including a whole organism
    • Cells found in embryos that can give rise to many, but not all, cell types
    • Cells found in adult tissues that can give rise to only one cell type
    • Cells that have stopped dividing and cannot form other cell types

  3. Unipotent cells can form:

    • Only the cells of the embryo
    • Any cell type in the body
    • Only one type of cell, such as cardiomyocytes
    • Many cell types but not all

  4. Totipotent cells occur for how long in mammals?

    • Only for a limited time, in the very early embryo
    • Throughout the whole life of the organism
    • Only in adult bone marrow
    • Only after the embryo has become a foetus

  5. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are produced by:

    • Culturing cells from the placenta of a newborn
    • Removing the nucleus from a fertilised egg
    • Splitting an embryo into several identical parts
    • Treating adult somatic cells with appropriate transcription factors

  6. A key property of pluripotent stem cells is that they can:

    • Lose all their DNA during division
    • Form only the cells of one tissue
    • Divide only once before becoming specialised
    • Divide in unlimited numbers

  7. Cell specialisation during development occurs because:

    • Cells use all their DNA in every process
    • Cells lose the genes they do not need
    • Cells multiply their DNA content
    • Cells translate only part of their DNA

  8. Bone marrow stem cells that produce only the types of blood cell are best described as:

    • Multipotent
    • Pluripotent
    • Totipotent
    • Unipotent

  9. Why are iPS cells considered valuable for medicine?

    • They can only form the cells of the embryo itself, so they cannot be used to make any tissue that exists in an adult patient
    • They can be made from a patient's own adult cells, avoiding the need to use embryos
    • They never divide, so they cannot form tumours, which is why they are considered completely safe for every type of therapy
    • They are always identical to totipotent cells in every respect, so they can form a whole organism when placed in a uterus

  10. Which stem cell type is exemplified in the specification by the formation of cardiomyocytes?

    • Multipotent in all cases
    • Totipotent
    • Pluripotent
    • Unipotent

  11. A major ethical concern about using embryonic stem cells is that:

    • They cannot be grown in a laboratory
    • Obtaining them can involve destroying an embryo
    • They can only be obtained from adult tissues
    • They always cause immediate rejection by the patient

  12. A clinician is concerned that a stem cell therapy could cause harm. Which risk is most important to control?

    • Cells becoming unable to use ATP
    • Cells producing too many genetic variants during meiosis
    • Loss of the cell's ability to read its DNA
    • Uncontrolled cell division that could form tumours

  13. A totipotent cell divides five times in succession, with each daughter cell dividing again. How many cells result?

    • 10
    • 64
    • 32
    • 25

  14. Why do totipotent cells lose their ability to form every cell type during development?

    • They translate only part of their DNA as cells specialise
    • They become unable to divide at any stage
    • Their DNA is destroyed as they divide
    • They lose all of their chromosomes at the first division

  15. Which feature distinguishes pluripotent cells from multipotent cells?

    • Multipotent cells can divide without limit and pluripotent cells cannot
    • Pluripotent cells can form many more cell types than multipotent cells
    • Pluripotent cells are found only in adult tissues
    • Multipotent cells are found only in embryos

  16. A claim states that stem cells can cure all human disease. What is the best evaluation of this claim?

    • The claim is correct because stem cells never divide uncontrollably, so they are always safe to transplant into any patient without testing
    • The claim is false because stem cells have no therapeutic use at all
    • The claim is correct because stem cells can form any cell type in every case
    • Stem cells show promise but must be controlled to avoid tumours and rejection, so the claim is overstated

  17. A pluripotent stem cell divides once every 24 hours and continues for 3 days with no cell loss. How many cells result?

    • 8
    • 6
    • 24
    • 3

  18. Why might iPS cells be preferred to embryonic stem cells for research and therapy?

    • iPS cells avoid the destruction of embryos, but introducing transcription factors may still carry risks
    • iPS cells cannot be produced in the laboratory, so they must always be taken directly from a donor embryo before they can be used
    • iPS cells divide more slowly than all other stem cells, so they are never used in therapy because they cannot be grown in large numbers
    • iPS cells are always free of all risks because they are made from adult cells

  19. Why can a unipotent cell not form a neurone?

    • It has lost all of its DNA during development, so it has no genetic information left to direct the formation of any new cell type
    • Its genes for other cell types are no longer expressed, so it can only differentiate along one pathway
    • It has too many chromosomes to specialise, so the extra genetic material prevents any gene from being expressed in the cell
    • Its ability to divide has stopped completely, so it can never produce daughter cells, whatever signals it receives from the body

  20. How can genetically identical cells become specialised cells with different functions?

    • Specialised cells lose their nucleus during development and so cannot carry any genes, which is why they make different proteins
    • The DNA is changed in each cell during development by mutation, so each specialised cell carries a different genome from the others
    • Each cell receives a different set of chromosomes at the time of division, so the chromosomes it has determine its specialised function
    • Different sets of genes are transcribed and translated in different cells, so different proteins are made

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