Bacteria & Antibiotic Resistance

• • Some antibiotics work by breaking down the cell walls of bacteria causing them to die
  • They become resistant to antibiotics when they have a mutation that changes the cell wall so that the antibiotic can no longer destroy it
• • Bacteria evolve resistance quickly because they have the ability to mutate quickly
  • fast reproduction rate (binary fission)
  • huge number of offspring cells which allows for more mutations
  • They have multiple ways of picking up resistant genes from other bacteria
  • ex: conjugation