How exactly do bacteria “learn to” survive antibiotics?
It all comes down to certain events that change the DNA, or genetic sequence, of bacteria. You see, all living organisms have DNA, a sequence of molecules called nucleic acids, which serve as the blue-print of a cell’s function [5]. For example, DNA dictates which proteins or enzymes are made, and thus changing a cell’s DNA through various means can potentially change which proteins are produced by that cell [5]. Proteins are important functional molecules, where different proteins have different roles in a cell [5]. So if a bacterium is able to change or add to its DNA through a certain mechanism, it may be able to gain a new function [4]. DNA can mutate (i.e. change spontaneously), or bacteria can uptake new DNA from components of dead bacteria in the environment [4]. Another way a bacteria can acquire new DNA is through a process called ‘conjugation’ [15], where DNA can be transferred directly from one bacterium to another [16]. This results in ‘transformation’, or the incorporation
