Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a significant health issue worldwide. Penicill

Question

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a significant health issue worldwide. Penicillin initially was extremely effective in treating bacterial infections by killing pathogenic bacteria. Today, many bacterial pathogens are resistant and penicillin does not cause significant bacterial cell death.

1. An explanation of evolutionary change by the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics (IAA) was proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lemarck. Athough the explanation was rejected soon after it was proposed, it remains as an extremely prevalent misconception of evolution. For illustrative purposes, describe the evolutionary change leading to antibiotic resistance using the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics.

2. Charles Darwin described evolutionary change as descent by modification with natural selection. Describe the evolutionary change leading to antibiotic resistance using the theory of descent by modification with natural selection. Be sure that your explanations are different and illustrate the principles of each theory.

Explanation / Answer

1. Theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics says that, any physiological change acquired during the life of an organism gets transmitted to the offspring. In case of bacteria, when antibiotics are used, some bacteria die and some won't. The survived bacteria have antibiotic resistant gene and would divide and transmit this gene to the next generation resulting in a wide spread antibiotic resistance.

2. Theory of descent says that, horizontal transfer of genes in organisms otherthan normal vertical/sexual/asexual transfer of genes is a way of evolution in many forms of organisms. Horizontal transfer of genes use plasmids and bacteriophages as tools of transfer of genes. Coming to antibiotic resistance, horizontal trasnfer is the main reason. One antibiotic resistant species transfer gene horizontally to another species making antibiotic resistance spread thorughout.

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