Question

A population of bacteria is treated with an antibiotic. Because of variation in the population of bacteria, what is a possible outcome of the treatment?

Answer 1

Since there is variation in the population of bacteria, some of these bacterium's may have the ability to deal with the antibiotic better than others. This is how resistance occurs. The possible outcome of this treatment is that the bacteria that is not resistant to the antibiotic will die off and those that are resistant or develop resistance (due to variations) will survive and spread etc. So, the next generation of bacteria will probably mostly be resistant to the antibiotic used in this treatment.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

The answer is D on USATestPrep because...

Step-by-step explanation:

Some of the bacteria may be resistant to the antibiotic and survive. Genetic variability may mean that some of the bacteria carry natural resistance, and will survive and render the antibiotic ineffective.