LSAT 88, Reading Comprehension, Q16, LSATHacks

RC Question 16 Explanation, by LSATHacks

DISCUSSION: The antibody tests detected the bacteria in 51/52 samples. The culture techniques only found them in 7/52. Paragraph 3 tells us that when the bacterium shrinks, it stops reproducing and can’t be cultured. Earlier in paragraph 2, we’re told that culture techniques involve growing bacterium in a petri dish.

We can actually make a logic chain here:

If bacterium shrinks ➔ can’t reproduce ➔ can’t culture ➔ can’t grow in petri dish

So we can infer from this highlighted last sentence that V. cholerae can’t always be grown in a petri dish.

___________

1. CORRECT. This matches our prephrase.
2. Nothing in the passage supports this; in fact, we’re told that the antibodies are an effective way to detect V. cholerae, suggesting that they bond quite well.
3. Colwell presents temperature and salinity as possible factors that awaken V. cholerae from its dormancy, but inferring that they are the “primary” reasons is extreme.
4. Human waste is presented as a method through which the bacteria spreads, not a source of culture samples. Human tissue isn’t mentioned.
5. Wrong, the fluorescent molecule is introduced by the antibodies.

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