My AP Biology Thoughts
Unit 7 Natural Selection
EPISODE TITLE: Antibiotic Resistance
Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, I am Emily Greenberg and I am Angelina Graf and we will be your hosts for “Unit 7 Heredity: Examples of Evolution-antibiotic resistance”. In episode 113, we will be discussing antibiotic resistance and how it relates to the AP Biology Curriculum.
Segment 1: Overview of antibiotic resistance
- Antibiotics are drugs that fight infections that are caused by bacteria
- Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria and germs build up resistance to the medications that are meant to kill them
- Antibiotic resistant germs are often very difficult to treat and dangerous infections can emerge
- A common misconception is that antibiotic resistance means that the body is resisting antibiotics, however it is actually the bacteria that is becoming resistant to antibiotics
- Overuse of antibiotics is one of the main causes of antibiotic resistance
Segment 2: Evidence that supports antibiotic resistance
- Antibiotics also kill good bacteria that help to protect the body from infection
- Antibiotic resistant germs can spread throughout healthcare facilities, the environment, and other communities.
- The action of an antibiotic is an environmental pressure
- Species have to adapt and evolve in order to survive these pressures
- We know that evolution is happening because bacterial infections can continue to spread even with the presence of antibiotics
- Penicillin resistance:
- In WWI, penicillin treatment was used to treat the wounded and by some smaller civilian populations
- Biochemists began reporting resistance to it before the war was over and found a penicillin-inactivating enzyme secreted from a particular bacteria.
- Over the next few decades, overuse and repeated exposure to antibiotics helped the selection and replication of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria
Segment 3: Connection to the Course
- Antibiotic resistance evolves as a result of natural selection and genetic mutation
- Bacteria that develop mutations that are resistant to antibiotics are more likely to survive and reproduce; this means that they are more fit
- If resistant bacteria reproduce with other resistant bacteria, their offspring will be fully resistant and this trait will become more frequent in the gene pool
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