Concept explainers
A 4-month-old infant had been running a moderate fever for 36 hours, and a nervous mother made a call to her pediatrician. Examination and tests revealed no outward signs of infection or cause of the fever. The anxious mother wanted a prescription for antibiotics, but the pediatrician recommended watching the infant for two days before making a decision. He explained that decades of rampant use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture has caused a global surge in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, drastically reducing the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy for infections. He pointed out that bacteria can exchange antibiotic resistance traits and that many pathogenic strains are now resistant to several antibiotics. The mother was not placated by these explanations and insisted that her baby receive antibiotics immediately. This situation raises several issues.
1. Was the pediatrician correct in stating that bacteria can exchange antibiotic resistance genes? If so, how is this possible?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 6 Solutions
Concepts of Genetics (12th Edition)
- Imagine that you are a student in Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase’s lab in the late 1940s. You are given five test tubes containing E. Coli bacteria infected with T2 bacteriophages that have been labeled with either 32P or 35S. Unfortunately, you forget to mark the tubes and are now uncertain about which tubes is which. You performed their blender experiment and got the following results. Which tube out of these 5 contains E. Coli infected with 32P-labeled phage? Explain your answer.arrow_forwardWhy do bacteria that are not genetically resistant to antibiotics die out when exposed to antibiotics?arrow_forwardEngineered bacteria are commonly used and cultured in pharmaceutical laboratories to produced drugs like insulin. However, during one instance, with the desire to increase the rate of insulin production, one scientist tried to modify the process and put another substance (chemical x) in the growth medium which is chemically almost the same to the substance (chemical x’) normally put in the medium. After which, the scientist found out that the amount of insulin produced in the medium decreases as compared to the normal production. Again, within the context of our discussion, explain the possible reason for the observed result.arrow_forward
- You have isolated a strain of E.coli that is resistant to penicillin,streptomycin,chloramphenicol and tetracycline. You also observe that when you mix this strain with a strain that is sensitive to all four antibiotics, the new strain becomes resistant to streptomycin,penicillin and chloramphenicol but not tetracycline. Explain how this is so?arrow_forwardIn the Meselson experiment, would it have been possible to utilize N14 in the original bacteria and only allow growing bacteria to access N15 to build new (F1) bacteria and get the same results? Explain why. (I need an answer in full complete sentences with the question restated in the response.)arrow_forwardGiven that antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria are a concern to the general health of a population, what can be done to prevent their development?arrow_forward
- Briefly discuss the following questions in 3 to 5 sentences. What is horizontal gene transfer? What are the three mechanisms for this to occur in bacteria? What are the components needed for the processes of transformation, conjugation, and transduction? How does each process occur? What genes are involved in each process? How do generalized and specialized transduction differ? What is the end result of each? What is recombination? What is the importance to bacteria & archaea? What are the two types of recombination? What are the details of each type? What components are needed for each type?arrow_forwarda bacteriophage has been isolated from the growth chambers that has evolved the capability to the methylate its own DNA when it is replicated inside the host bacterium. why is this a problem?arrow_forwardHow did Anton de Bary prove that a microbe was the cause of the Irish Potato Famine? Why did other scientists of this era believe that late blight was due to environmental causes?arrow_forward
- For instance, what would happen if ice-minus bacterial genes were transferred to strains of bacteria that are accustomed to living under cold conditions? ( Should genetically engineered microbes be released even in “controlled” experiments that might result in beneficial applications of biotechnology? How do you think the scientific field can prevent the escape of genetically altered microbes in field experiments?arrow_forwardIn Experiment I, you established that beneficial mutations are rare. In Experiment II, you showed that the environment does not affect the probability of a beneficial mutation occurring. Knowing this, why then are mutations responsible for antibiotic resistance in bacteria so common?arrow_forwardThe development of antibiotic resistance is a major threat to our health. Why? How extensive is this problem?arrow_forward
- Human Anatomy & Physiology (11th Edition)BiologyISBN:9780134580999Author:Elaine N. Marieb, Katja N. HoehnPublisher:PEARSONBiology 2eBiologyISBN:9781947172517Author:Matthew Douglas, Jung Choi, Mary Ann ClarkPublisher:OpenStaxAnatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781259398629Author:McKinley, Michael P., O'loughlin, Valerie Dean, Bidle, Theresa StouterPublisher:Mcgraw Hill Education,
- Molecular Biology of the Cell (Sixth Edition)BiologyISBN:9780815344322Author:Bruce Alberts, Alexander D. Johnson, Julian Lewis, David Morgan, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter WalterPublisher:W. W. Norton & CompanyLaboratory Manual For Human Anatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781260159363Author:Martin, Terry R., Prentice-craver, CynthiaPublisher:McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.Inquiry Into Life (16th Edition)BiologyISBN:9781260231700Author:Sylvia S. Mader, Michael WindelspechtPublisher:McGraw Hill Education