PrepTest 118, Section 2, Question 15
A lichen consists of a fungus living in(450 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- ANew research suggests(10 more words not shown)
- BNew research has(10 more words not shown)
- CNew research into(17 more words not shown)
- DNew research has(15 more words not shown)
- ENew research into(20 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted the main point: new DNA research shows where lichen-forming fungi belong in the fungus family tree, with implications for how fungi evolve. We want some version of that discovery. An answer can be shorter than our prediction without leaving out the central idea.
Working the answers
- A
Symbiosis isn't the new discovery. The first sentence already defines a lichen as a fungus living in a mutually beneficial relationship with an alga. The study tells us where the fungus belongs in its family tree.
- B
The research doesn't establish one distinct species of lichen-forming fungus. It studies several species and places varieties on different branches of the family tree.
- C
Wrong relatives. The study connects these fungi to other fungi, including yeast and mushrooms. Living with algae doesn't make them close evolutionary relatives of algae.
- DCorrect
This captures the discovery we predicted: isolating fungal DNA let researchers establish these fungi's relationships to other members of the fungus family. D doesn't spell out the final paragraph's implication, but it identifies the finding that the rest of the explanation builds around.
- E
This is a real consequence of the discovery, mentioned at the end of the first paragraph. But explaining visible similarities is only one part of the larger achievement: placing the fungi in their evolutionary family tree. E makes that narrower consequence the main point.
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