Question

The clonal selection theory is one of the pivotal concepts in immunology. If you were to coat glass beads with an antigen to which the lymphocytes of an animal had never been exposed, pass the lymphocytes through a column packed with such beads, and to collect the effluent lymphocytes from the column, then the clonal selection theory would predict that?

Lymphocytes in the effluent would not bind the bead antigen
Lymphocytes in the effluent would bind the bead antigen
Lymphocytes in the effluent would bind to each other
Lymphocytes left on the column would not bind antigen
Lymphocytes left on the column would non-specifically bind the glass beads

Answer 1

According to the clonal selection theory, if lymphocytes pass through a column with glass beads coated with a novel antigen, those without receptors for the antigen will not bind and will be found in the effluent.

Step-by-step explanation:

The clonal selection theory is a cornerstone of immunology that describes how lymphocytes (such as T cells and B cells) are selected and expanded based on their antigen receptors. If you were to coat glass beads with an antigen to which lymphocytes had never been exposed and pass the lymphocytes through a column packed with these beads,

clonal selection would predict that those lymphocytes that did not have a receptor specific for the presented antigen would pass through the column (effluent) without binding. Therefore, the lymphocytes in the effluent would not bind the bead antigen,

but rather, those lymphocytes that remained on the column would have the receptors specific for the antigen and would be binding the bead antigen. Likewise, lymphocytes with irrelevant antigen specificity would also pass through without binding to the antigen-coated beads.