Statement I: Acquired immunity is naturally present from birth and is inherited from parents.
Statement II: The secondary lymphoid organs serve as the sites where lymphocytes interact with antigens.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Only statement II is correct.
Statement I — False. It describes innate immunity, which is non-specific and present at birth. Acquired immunity is not present from birth: it develops after the body meets a pathogen, is specific to that pathogen and has memory.
Statement II — True. After maturing in the bone marrow and thymus, lymphocytes move to the secondary lymphoid organs (spleen, lymph nodes, tonsils, Peyer’s patches and appendix). There they meet antigens and multiply to become effector cells.
NCERT Extract:
Innate Immunity – “Innate immunity is non-specific type of defence, that is present at the time of birth.”
Acquired Immunity – “Acquired immunity, on the other hand is pathogen specific. It is characterised by memory.”
Lymphoid Organs – “… After maturation the lymphocytes migrate to secondary lymphoid organs like spleen, lymph nodes, tonsils, Peyer’s patches of small intestine and appendix. The secondary lymphoid organs provide the sites for interaction of lymphocytes with the antigen, which then proliferate to become effector cells.”