antibiotic resistance > Bacterial reproduction > evolution
What do the three terms in the title have in common? Why evolution in the microbiology unit? How does this effect my life? When someone takes an antibiotic, sometimes some bacterium will survive it because of a trait that they have, a resistance. Once all the other bacteria have been wiped out by the antibiotic, the resistant one is all that is left. This one remaining bacteria then reproduces through mitosis and passes on the resistance to its clones and on and on passing on the resistance to the majority of the population. this can lead to a loss of potency of antibiotics. If that kind of bacteria continues to multiply and the trait is spread to other populations of bacteria it could lead to an evolution of that species. The resistance to the antibiotic may become a known trait of that bacteria, meaning the antibiotic cant be used to treat any illness caused by it.