How could a bacteria become resistant to your tetracycline? Your answer should include the concepts of mutation and natural selection.

Answer: Tetracyclines are protein synthesis inhibiting antibiotics that kill bacteria by preventing it to translate proteins in the ribosomes. They bind to 30s ribosomal subunits, inhibiting protein expression and translation.

Explanation:

Tetracycline drug resistant bacteria inherits genes from a parent bacterial cell that was exposed to the drug. As a result of exposure to tetracycline, the parent bacterial cell goes through a random mutation that can resist and survive this induced environmental pressure. The random mutation protects its ribosomes from the drugs inhibitory effect.

As evolution by natural selection explains, it then transfers that gene or mutation through horizontal gene transfer to its offspring. It occurs in a way that any daughter bacterial cell will become naturally resistant and survive in the presence of tetracycline.