Which of the following statements is incorrect?

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Question restatement: Which of the following statements is incorrect?

Option 1: 'T cell clones develop in the thymus' This is generally true. T cells originate and mature in the thymus, where positive and negative selection shape the repertoire. The statement aligns with established immunology.

Option 2: 'An antibody can only recognize a single antigen' This is a nuanced claim. An individual antibody molecule is highly specific for a particular epitope on an antigen, effectively recognizing a single antigenic determinant. However, a given antibody might recognize related epitopes on the same antigen or, in the case of polyclonal preparations, multiple antibodies can recognize multiple epitopes on the same antigen. In many teaching contexts, the simplification 'an antibody recognizes a single antigen' is treated as broadly true, though technically the exact relationship is epitope- and context-dependent. Therefore, this statement is not clearly incorrect and can be considered largely accurate depending on interpretation.

Option 3: 'The immune system is able to reconigse all possible anitgenic specificites as T and B cells have around 100 000 receptors per cell' This statement is incorrect. Each T or B cell expresses a unique receptor repertoire, but the total number of distinct specificities generated in an individual is far larger than 100,000 per cell, and the immune system does not recognize literally every possible antigen due to finite repertoire and tolerance processes. Moreover, the phrase implies complete universality of recognition, which is not achievable given limitations in diversity and self-tolerance.

Option 4: 'Antigen specific clones develop independently of exposure to pathogens' This is broadly true in the sense that B and T cell repertoires are generated through V(D)J recombination during development, before exposure to pathogens. Clonal specificity arises from gene rearrangements regardless of infection history, and exposure mainly drives expansion of those clones rather than their initial generation.

In summary, Option 3 stands out as the clearly incorrect statement because it overstates the system’s capacity and misrepresents the scale of receptor diversity relative to the number of cells, whereas the other options reflect acceptable or nuanced aspects of immunology. Note: if your course emphasizes the epitope-focused nature of antibody binding, Option 2 could be debated, but in standard immunology explanations it is typically treated as acceptable rather than outright incorrect.

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Which of the following statements is incorrect?

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