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Practice Test Name -
1. 14-year-old Caucasian male is stung by a bee during a summer trip. He is brought to the
emergency department 30 minutes later with swelling of his face and difficulty
breathing. His blood pressure is 70/50 mmHg and heart rate is 120/mm. Lung
auscultation reveals bilateral expiratory wheezes. Which of the following most likely
triggered this patient’s condition?
A. Cell surface-bound IgE bridging by antigen
B. IgE-antigen complex deposition in the endothelium
C. IgE-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity
D. Complement-mediated cytotoxicity
E. CD+ T-lymphocyte-mediated hypersensitivity
2. A 2-year-old Caucasian male is being evaluated for recurrent respiratory and skin
infections. This patient’s neutrophils fail to turn blue upon nitroblue tetrazolium
exposure. Several bacteria and fungi have been isolated from the skin lesions. Which of
the following substances is most likely produced by these microorganisms?
A. Polysaccharide capsule
B. β-lactamase
C. Coagulase
D. Lecithinase
E. Catalase
3. Cytotoxic CD8 lymphocytes are able to kill virus-infected nasal epithelial cells once
sensitized. Cytotoxic CD8 lymphocyte receptors recognize foreign proteins on the
epithelial cell surface in association with the:
A. MHC class I heavy chain only
B. MHC class I heavy chain and β₂-microgIobulin
C. MHC class I heavy chain and lgG
D. MHC class II alpha-chain and beta-chain
E. MHC class II alpha-chain only
4. A culture of smooth Streptococcus agalactiae bacteria is grown in a nutrient broth and
allowed to incubate until the culture enters the decline phase of the growth curve.
Purified streptococcal DNAase is added to the flask and the culture is agitated gently for
2 hours at 37⁰C. An extract of this process is added to a culture of rough Streptococcus
agalactiae in the logarithmic phase of the growth curve and incubated for 24 hours
under appropriate culture conditions. Which of the following processes would be
necessary to achieve the production of encapsulated Streptococcus agalactiae in this
system?
A. Conjugation
B. Lysogeny
C. Site-specific recombination
D. Transduction
E. Transformation
5. A culture of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria is selected over many months for its ability
to grow in increasing concentrations of penicillin. When colonies of this original culture
are capable of growth on blood agar containing 400,000 IU penicillin, the colonies are
picked from the agar, placed in a nutrient broth, and a lytic phage is added. The bacteria
and phage are co-cultured until viral maturation is complete. The culture is centrifuged,
and the supernatant liquid is added to culture tubes containing clones of penicillin
sensitive Staph. aureus. After 4 hours of incubation at 37⁰C, these broth cultures are
dumped onto blood agar Petri dishes containing 400,000 IU penicillin and incubated for
24 hours. Out of 100 Petri dishes, 4 grow colonies. What process has taken place in this
experiment?
A. Generalized transduction
B. Mobilization of transposons
C. Site specific recombination
D. Specialized transduction
E. Transformation
6. Non-pathogenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheria can acquire pathogenicity and

thus the ability to cause severe pseudomembranous pharyngitis through which of the
following mechanisms?
A. Transformation permitting capsule formation
B. Bacterial conjugation permitting pili expression
C. Phage conversion permitting exotoxin production
D. Chromosomal mutation permitting endotoxin production
E. Environmental influences permitting toxin synthesis
7. A clone of F⁺ E.coli, which possesses a Thr⁺ marker on its fertility plasmid, was produced
in the laboratory. These bacteria were mixed with wild-type F⁻ E.coli, which were Thr⁻
under conditions that prevented binary fission but encouraged cell to cell contact. After
24 hours, the cultures were plated on threonine-deficient and threonine-enriched
media, and the colonies were counted. What would be the expected result?
A. All clones would be F⁺ and grow in threonine-free medium
B. All clones would be F⁺ and but would require threonine in their growth medium
C. Half of the clones would be F⁻ and would grow on threonine-free medium
D. Half of the clones would be F⁺ and would grow on threonine-free medium
E. Half of the clones would be F⁺ but would require threonine in their growth medium.
8. A microbiologic laboratory studying the acquisition of drug resistance is Gram-negative

bacilli isolates a clone of bacteria with genetic resistance to chloramphenicol,
tetracycline, sulfonamides and streptomycin. The DNA from these bacteria is isolated
and processed for nucleotide sequencing. The small segment of DNA containing the
drug-resistance genes is found to contain three pairs of indirect repeats. What else is
most likely to be found inside this linear segment of DNA?
A. A temperate phage
B. Plasmid
C. The tra operon
D. Three genes for transposase enzymes
E. Three pairs of direct repeats
9. In a research experiment, strain 1 of Streptococcus pneumoniae produces no effect

when injected into the peritoneal cavity. Similarly when a lysate of a virulent strain of
Streptococcus pneumoniae (strain 2) is introduced into the peritoneal cavity, no effect is
observed. However, when strain 1 is injected with a lysate of strain 2, death of the mice
results. Which of the following processes most likely accounts for the observed
processes?
A. Pilus-mediated transfer
B. Chromosomal fragment uptake from the media
C. Phage mediated DNA transfer
D. Spontaneous mutation
E. Transposon-mediated DNA transfer
10. The acidification of lysosomes within antigen-presenting cells is prevented in

experimental settings. The affected cells show impaired interaction with lymphocytes
upon antigen exposure. The observed effect most likely results from a low cell surface
expression of which of the following molecules?
A. MHC Class I
B. MHC Class II
C. I-cell receptor
D. Integrins
E. Cytokine receptors
11. A 4-year-old Caucasian male is evaluated in your clinic for recurrent skin and respiratory
infections. He has light skin and silvery hair. Horizontal nystagmus is present on eye
examination. Peripheral blood smear demonstrates giant cytoplasmic granules in
neutrophils and monocytes. The patient most likely suffers from which of the following
disorders?
A. Chronic granulomatous disease
B. Phenylketonuria
C. DiGeorge syndrome
D. Albinism
E. Chédiak-Higashi syndrome
12. During the process of T-lymphocyte maturation in the first trimester of gestation T cell
receptors (TCR) of many lymphocytes demonstrate a very high affinity interaction with
MHC molecules expressed on thymic stromal cells. These lymphocytes are most likely to
undergo:
A. Isotype switching
B. Positive selection
C. TCR DNA rearrangement
D. Negative selection
E. Affinity maturation
13. A 4-year-old Caucasian male has just recovered from severe staphylococcal pneumonia. He has a
history of recurrent pyogenic skin infections and pneumonias. This patient’s neutrophils fail to
turn blue upon nitroblue tetrazolium exposure most likely due to the lack of:
A. Myeloperoxidase
B. Cytochrome C oxidase
C. NADPH oxidase
D. Pyruvate kinase
E. Adenosine deaminase
14. A 28-year-old Caucasian male presents to your office with a two-month history of dull low back
pain and morning stiffness. He has no significant past medical history. Physical examination
reveals limited anterior flexion of the spine and radiologic studies indicate inflammation and
early fusion of the sacroiliac joint. Which of the following is most strongly associated with this
patient’s disease?
A. Specific HLA class I serotype
B. A specific HLA class II serotype
C. Deficient complement component
D. Selective immunoglobulin deficiency
E. Auto-reactive 1gM antibodies
Answers
1. A
2. E
3. B
4. E
5. A
6. C
7. A
8. D
9. B
10. B
11. A
12. D
13. C
14. A

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What condition is described for the 14-year old male patient?

What substance is most likely produced by microorganisms infecting the skin lesions of the 2-year old male?

Practice Test Name -

6. Non-pathogenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheria can acquire pathogenicity and

8. A microbiologic laboratory studying the acquisition of drug resistance is Gram-negative

9. In a research experiment, strain 1 of Streptococcus pneumoniae produces no effect

10. The acidification of lysosomes within antigen-presenting cells is prevented in

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