Question

By all of the following ways bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics except
A) making enzymes that inactivate the drug
B) becoming impermeable to the drug
C) modifying the target of the drug
D) moving away from the drug

Answer 1

Hint: Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria and fungi develop resistance to drugs. It is based on the theory of Darwin’s ‘Natural selection’. An organism has to adapt to the environment to overcome certain factors. Infections caused by the antibiotic-resistant organisms are difficult to treat.

Complete step by step answer: according to Darwin’s “Natural selection theory” only those organisms that can adjust to the changing environment will sustain. Those organisms that cannot squeeze to the change in the environment will be excluded. So, organisms manage to obtain new features to survive and maintain their culture. An example of such selection is antibiotic resistance in bacteria. A bacterial population was developed on an agar plate that convinced antibiotic penicillin. The colonies that were susceptible to penicillin died. Whereas one or few bacterial colonies that were immune to penicillin survived. However, with time, the bacteria and developed resistance to penicillin. This is because of the mutation in bacteria. They developed a gene that made them resistant to penicillin. Hence, the resistant bacteria multiplied swiftly as compared to non-resistant bacteria. Bacteria can be resistant to the antibiotic by either producing enzymes or by formatting an impermeable capsule and modifying the target of the drug.
Thus, the answer is option D.

Note: Darwinian selection theory stated that the environment chooses organisms with valuable variation over those who do not have beneficial variations. It is essential because in a dynamic environment these organisms are accommodated to survive.