The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156222   Message #3686212
Posted By: TheSnail
16-Dec-14 - 10:01 AM
Thread Name: BS: Well, I'm not a scientist...
Subject: RE: BS: Well, I'm not a scientist...
Musket
My reading (I am no expert) is that they are asking the question;

"If resistance is inherited (and it is) then an experiment to see how bacteria tries to evolve to overcome resistance was the point of the exercise."


Who are "they"? Where is this published?

It isn't us changing

But you said it was and that was what I said "no" to. Just to remind you. you said -
However, my understanding is that this is about "training" your immune system to seek and destroy. Whether there has been an irreversible change in the molecular makeup of your antibodies goes to the heart of what we term evolution.

If your children retain that genetic memory, is that because the mother has passed on sufficient antibody intact or the DNA ability to produce it?


You are saying that resistance to bacteria acquired by one individual can be passed on to their children. That is "Inheritance of acquired characteristics".

Thank you anonymous GUEST. Bacteria don't TRY to evolve. Individual bacteria don't change. Those with low resistance to antibiotics are selected against. They die. Those with higher resistance survive and reproduce. The population as a whole becomes more antibiotic resistant.