The research team used the setup to study the incorporation of labeled nucleotides into a culture of lymphocytes and found that the lymphocytes incorporated the labeled nucleotide at a significantly higher level after a pathogen was introduced into the culture. What did they conclude?
Correct answer: C. Infection causes lymphocytes to divide more rapidly
- A. The presence of the pathogen made the experiment too contaminated to trust the results
- B. Their tissue culture methods needed to be relearned
- C. Infection causes lymphocytes to divide more rapidly
- D. Infection causes cell cultures in general to reproduce more rapidly
- E. Infection causes lymphocyte cultures to skip some parts of the cell cycle
Explanation
Based on the described experiment where lymphocytes incorporated labeled nucleotides at a significantly higher level after a pathogen was introduced into the culture, the research team could reasonably conclude that infection causes lymphocytes to divide more rapidly. The incorporation of labeled nucleotides is often used as a marker for DNA synthesis, which is a hallmark of cell division. If lymphocytes are incorporating labeled nucleotides at a higher rate after exposure to a pathogen, it suggests that they are undergoing increased DNA synthesis, which is indicative of more rapid cell division.
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