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A capsule around a pathogen contributes to infection mainly by doing what?
AMaking the pathogen resist immune attack
BDriving the cell forward through liquid
CCopying the chromosome before division
DBuilding the peptidoglycan of the wall
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Making the pathogen resist immune attack
1. A capsule is an external structure lying outside the cell wall in some species.
2. It lets the organism attach to surfaces and shields it from drying out.
3. It also blocks attack by phagocytic cells and makes pathogens more resistant to immune responses.
4. Movement is the job of flagella, not of a capsule.
5. Chromosome copying and wall building happen without any capsule at all.
_Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 22 "Prokaryotes: Bacteria and Archaea", section 22.2 Structure of Prokaryotes_
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