Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

1. IgM is the first antibody isotype secreted following activation of a naive B

ID: 219488 • Letter: 1

Question

1. IgM is the first antibody isotype
secreted following activation of a naive B cell. IgM is
found at high concentrations in the serum, and is found
as a very high molecular weight complex. This high
molecular weight complex is composed of:
A. A single IgM monomer plus monomers of IgA and IgG
B. A single IgM monomer bound to several non-immunoglobulin serum proteins
C. A single IgM monomer bound to serum complement components
D. A pentamer of IgM monomers
E. Two dimers of IgM plus IgD forming a tetrameric
complex

2. Some pathogenic microorganisms encode proteins, such as the
Staphylococcus
Protein A, that bind to immunoglobulin
constant
region
domains with high affinity. These microbial proteins provide a
benefit to the microorganism by:

A. Preventing antibodies bound to the microbe from binding to Fc receptors on phagocytes
B. Blocking the binding of anti-microbial antibodies to the pathogen
surface
C. Cleaving the antibody into fragments that separate the antigen-binding region from the effector function
D. Inducing aggregation of the anti-microbial antibodies by multivalent binding to the pathogen-derived protein
E. Preventing the antibody from neutralizing the pathogen

3. True/False: The generation of a complete coding sequence for an antibody heavy chain involves a lymphocyte-restricted process of DNA rearrangement that links V, D,
and J gene segments together to form the exon that
encodes the heavy chain V region. A similar type of DNA rearrangement is also utilized for the simultaneous expression of IgM and IgD antibodies by the same B cell.

Explanation / Answer

1. D. A pentamer of IgM monomers

2. A. Preventing antibodies bound to the microbe from binding to Fc receptors on phagocytes

3. true