Antibiotic Resistance

AQA AS-level BiologyGenetic DiversityLesson 18 of 19

Some antibiotics such as penicillin are no longer effective against some bacteria.

Populations of bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics such as penicillin.

A chance mutation within a bacterium led to the ability of the bacterium to make a new protein.

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binary fission: The method of asexual cell division in prokaryotes, in which the circular DNA and plasmids replicate before the cell divides in two.
gene: A length of DNA that codes for a polypeptide or a functional RNA molecule, at a specific locus on a chromosome.
allele: One of the different versions of a gene, arising by mutation, that occupy the same locus on homologous chromosomes.
mutation: A random change in the amount, arrangement or base sequence of the DNA of an organism.
directional selection: A type of natural selection that favours one extreme phenotype, shifting the population mean towards it.