A fellow student in your microbiology class was looking at the bacteria growing

Question

A fellow student in your microbiology class was looking at the bacteria growing on her petri plate. She noticed that there were two distinctly different types of bacteria on the plate. She was confused because only one of the organisms she streaked on the plate should be able to grow on ampicillin, the antibiotic in the plate. You notice that the growth of the supposedly sensitive strain is concentrated in the area where her poor technique mixed the two organisms. Can you suggest an explanation for how these sensitive bacteria became resistant? Discuss the details of your proposed mechanism.

Explanation / Answer

In this case, it is clearly known that the one bacteria, which is intentionally added to the petriplate grows in the presence of ampicillin, means resistant to ampicillin. Bacterial conjugation is a cell to cell contact process through which bacteria can insert their genetic material in another bacteria. Bacterial conjugation is an importatnt mechanism through which microorganisms develop resistance.

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