How did bacteria become resistant to antibiotics? Do these resistant genes pass on to their progeny?
The answer to how it happens is still not known completely. The root cause for development of antibiotic resistance is mutation. In a given number of microbes, a few of them are mutants.Mutation is a change in the genetic code of the organism, the cause of mutation can be exposure to certain physical raditaions or chemical agents.So, the organisms which have a mutaion at a particular gene will most likely be resistant to antibiotics.When the microbes are exposed to antibiotic, only the mutant ones will survive.. others die.Yes, mutation is heritable as the genetic info (DNA) will be passed on from parent to progeny.
How could bacteria become resistant to an antibiotic?
Bacteria that were at one time susceptible to an antibiotic can acquire resistance through mutation of their genetic material or by acquiring pieces of DNA that code for the resistance properties from other bacteria.That is why some bacteria's are starting to become resistant to antibiotics.
How do bacteria become resistant to antibiotics?
Just like humans can be resistant to a certain virus or bacteria, some bacteria can be resistant to antibiotics. If someone is infected, and the bacteria is killed all but one tiny one that was able to resist- it can mutate and or be spread, and therefore the resistant bacteria grows and is now immune to what ever treated the original strain.
How have bacteria become resistant to antibiotics?
Well since there are so bacteria, and due to the fact that they reproduce crazy (A bacteria divides every 15-20 minutes). So only if 1 survives the antibiotics, then boom its going to carry alleles for AMR and since they also can attach themselves to other bacteria and swap chromosomes to cause genetic variation, they can also transfer the AMR to other bacteria as well as through reproducing. So take meds only as prescribed by doctor, and don't miss a day, take all of it, dispose properly by turning it into any place that collect expired meds, MEDS ONLY KILLS BACTERIA NOT VIRUSES.
How does bacteria become resistant to antibiotics?
Random mutation in their DNA, pure chance. When a bacteria is exposed to an antibiotic if it has a random mutation which allows it to live when many of the surrounding bacteria die then it will have a selective advantage. It will reproduce creating many more bacteria with that same genetic mutation or 'resistance.' Bacteria may also pass resistance between one another via plasmids - small circular loops of DNA. So that one resistant bacteria could pass a loop of DNA to a nearby non-resistant bacteria and this would give the non-resistant bacteria, resistance!
Will antibiotics become useless because of drug-resistant bacteria?
There is no short answer. This is the challenge the pharmaceutical companies face. How to stay ahead of the ever morphing bacteria. We have microbials like MRSA and C diff that we can only treat with very potent antibiotics which pose a risk to our organ systems, especially renal (kidneys). There ARE other first line antibx, but they are too toxic to be used very long.What to do? We complain that big Pharma is charging too much, but where are the $ going to come from for R and D of new drugs? It's really not the cost of manufacturing the drugs, but creating them in the first place that is expensive.It's a conundrum. We overpay the executives of big companies, making them little “Princes” in their fields, with huge salaries and outrageous benefits. Their contracts stipulate they cannot “fail”, meaning that even if they mismanage a company into bankruptcy they still get paid. We have gone from a Republic into an Oligarchy. We the people must rise and stop this phenomenon. But we don't, and that's the shame!