How natural and artificial selection can change a population

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria

An antibiotic is a chemical substance/drug that is used to kill bacteria inside the body. They are
either taken orally or by injection.

Originally, they were made by fungi in a bid to protect themselves against bacteria and also
reduce competition for resources. Man used to extract the antibiotics from the fungi but the
amounts obtained were too little. They were then synthesized artificially. Artificially synthesized
antibiotics are made in large quantities, are more effective and have less side effects. Some
bacteria mutate/change genetically and resist the effect of an antibiotic. Because of its ability to
develop resistance, it is not advisable to use antibiotics frequently but use them only when
absolutely necessary. The antibiotics should be used in combination at any one time.

How antibiotics act on bacteria

- inhibit cell wall formation
- break down bacterial cell wall, leading to leakage of cell contents
- inhibit metabolism of bacterial cell by inhibiting enzyme activity, stopping growth
Why antibiotics are not effective against viruses
- Viruses are not cells. They do not metabolize but rely entirely on the metabolism of the
host cell for reproduction. They have no cell walls.
Evolution of bacteria through antibiotic resistance (Natural selection)
- When bacteria are exposed to an antibiotic, like penicillin, streptomycin, Terramycin or
tetracycline, most of them get killed. The few that survive are those that would have
undergone a gene mutation that would have given them resistance to the antibiotic.
The mutation could have given the bacteria the ability to produce enzymes that can
digest the antibiotic.
- Bacteria that survive are few and now have a lot of resources to themselves (due to the
death of non-resistant ones)
- The resistant bacteria reproduce and pass on the gene for antibiotic resistance to their
offspring. The whole area now becomes infested with antibiotic resistant bacteria.

****Draw diagram on page 257 of IGCSE Biology (Mary Jones) showing the above
scenario.
 Artificial Selection
This is when humans decide and choose which organisms should become parents of the
next generation. It is also called selective breeding. This forms the basis of plant and
animal improvement in Agriculture.
Since humans will provide the conditions for survival of the plants/animals, selection is
mainly based on traits/characteristics of economic importance to the farmer, rather
than survival of the organism.
How artificial selection (selective breeding) is used to improve animals
- Animals with desired traits of economic importance, e.g high milk yield, hardiness, fast
growth rate, high fertility and high food conversion efficiency are chosen
- The chosen animals are allowed to mate
- The offspring that are best in the targeted trait are selected and allowed to mate upon
reaching reproductive age.
- The process is repeated over many generations
How artificial selection (selective breeding) is used to improve crops
- Crops with a desired trait, e.g high yield, resistance to pests and diseases, fast growth
rate, resistance to drought or long shelf life are selected/chosen.
- The crop plants are allowed to cross pollinate
- Their seeds are sown/planted.
- Among the offspring, the seeds of the ones best in the desired trait have their seeds
planted
- This is repeated over many generations.

*****Unlike genetic engineering whose results are obtained fast, results of selective
breeding are realized after a long time