• Question: can bacteria adapt to different conditions

    Asked by A BACON STRIP to Francesca, Laura, Matthew, Andrew, Rebecca on 18 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Matthew Camilleri

      Matthew Camilleri answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      Bacteria do this all the time, and it only tends to take a few weeks for them to adapt to new surroundings (sometimes even a few days if not hours). This is a way how bacteria are developing resistance against antibacterial drugs, and the reason why we should not take these medicines lightly.

    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      Bacteria can absolutely adapt – it is evolution in action, on a timescale that we can observe with our own eyes. We kill them with one drug, but one bacterium may have a resistant gene. If we kill every other bacterium with DrugX, this one resistant one will then be able to thrive, and we have to then use DrugY to kill that one. Only then we will find one bacterium with a further mutation making it resistant to DrugX *and* DrugY. So we have to use DrugZ. And another, and another and another… This leads to antibacterial resistance, and the rise of Super Bugs that we cannot kill.

      This is why it is so important that doctors don’t over-prescribe antibiotics. People will demand antibiotics for a viral infection – i.e. a cold! These drugs will do nothing against a virus, but will help *any* bacteria develop resistance…

    • Photo: Laura Schofield

      Laura Schofield answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Yeah absolutely! It’s evolution in action! Or mutations depending on how you want to say it… Bacteria adapt to new conditions because there are mutations occurring all the time and as they grow and multiply so fast, these mutations can spread very quickly! If the mutation helps a new strain of bacteria survive while all other strains are wiped out, this one will end up being the only living strain and so will continue to multiply on its own.
      Alternatively, there’s a lot of research going into using bacteria to carry out our reactions for us. To do this, genetic engineers have to help the evolution process along a bit, sometimes causing mutations to happen!

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