Which of the following statements are fundamental to the clonal-selection theory of how the adaptive immune system functions?
I. Each mature lymphocyte has a unique membrane receptor that recognizes one antigen.
II. When the lymphocyte binds an antigen, the lymphocyte is activated and begins dividing to form many identical copies of itself.
III. Cloned lymphocytes have slight differences and are selected by the spleen for removal if they do not bind an antigen.
IV. Cloned cells descend from an activated lymphocyte and persist even after the pathogen is eliminated.
A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only I, II, and IV
D) only II, III, and IV
E) I, II, III, and IV

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The clonal-selection theory states that each mature lymphocyte has a unique membrane receptor that recognizes one antigen (I), and when the lymphocyte binds an antigen, it is activated and begins dividing to form many identical copies of itself (II). These cloned lymphocytes have slight differences and are selected by the spleen for removal if they do not bind an antigen (III). Cloned cells descended from activated lymphocytes persist even after the pathogen is eliminated (IV). Therefore, the correct statements are I, II, and IV, which are all represented by choice C.

Which of the Following Statements Are Fundamental to the Clonal-Selection