What is Antibiotic Resistance?

NGSS Phenomena: A time-lapse animation that shows one rectangular bacteria quickly reproducing to fill the screen with hundreds of bacteria.
A timelapse of the replication of bacteria
Antibiotics have been used in the U.S. since the 1940s. They kill bacteria or stop them from multiplying and have saved millions of lives from bacterial infections that used to kill many, many people. Bacterial infections are caused by some of the bacteria that are found on the surface of your skin getting into your body through a cut or other opening. Bacteria are single celled organisms that can divide every 20 minutes. This means that one bacterium can turn into 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 in only 24 hours.





According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), nearly half of the antibiotics that are used in humans and animals is unnecessary and each time one is used, it’s possible for some of the bacteria to develop resistance to an antibiotic.

1. Antibiotic resistance is a that is to bacteria.

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protein
chromosome
structure
neutral
harmful
gene
trait
beneficial

2. What statement best describes the relationship between mutations and antibiotic resistance?

3. Explain how antibiotic resistance might start small in a group of bacteria inside a person that is taking an antibiotic, but then become a big problem for that person.

4. Draw a model in the space below to show how antibiotic resistance is related to genes, proteins, and traits in bacteria.

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5. Explain in your own words how your model shows that a structural change to a gene in bacteria could lead to a change in the structure of a bacteria, causing antibiotic resistance. Why is a model like the one you created important to show these structural changes?

6. Draw a model in the space below to show how a structural change to a gene in bacteria could lead to a change in the structure of a bacteria that would lead to antibiotic resistance.

Color

Width

7. Explain in your own words how your model shows that a structural change to a gene in bacteria could lead to a change in the structure of a bacteria that would give it antibiotic resistance

8. How does your model show that modifications to protein function can cause changes in an organism that can be harmful, beneficial, or neutral?

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