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Imprudent and excessive antibiotic use increases resistant bacteria by which mechanism?
ATeaching bacteria to make new enzymes
BSelecting the resistant forms that survive
CForcing plasmids out of every cell
DTurning nearby viruses into resistant bacteria
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Selecting the resistant forms that survive
1. An antibiotic kills most of the infecting bacteria but leaves the resistant forms alive.
2. Those survivors reproduce, so resistant forms rise as a proportion of the population.
3. That is natural selection acting on bacteria, driven by abuse of antibiotics.
4. Short generation times and high mutation rates let this happen very quickly.
_Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 22 "Prokaryotes: Bacteria and Archaea", section 22.4 Bacterial Diseases in Humans_
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