Chapter 27, Problem 7TYU

Summary Introduction

To explain: How the withdrawal of antibiotics before the full treatment can lead to the evolution of drug-resistant pathogens.

Concept introduction:

The generation time in prokaryotes is less in response to changing conditions because they can often proliferate rapidly leading to the quick increase in mutation rate, which results in genetic diversity. Genetic diversity can also occur through transformation, transduction, and conjugation mechanisms and by transferring beneficial alleles such as the alleles for antibiotic resistance; the recombination event can support the adaptive evolution in these organisms.