Final answer:
If a C is accidentally incorporated instead of an A during DNA replication in a bacterium and this error is not corrected, after the original bacterium has divided once, about 50% of its progeny would contain the mutation.
Step-by-step explanation:
DNA replication is a highly accurate process, but mistakes can occasionally occur, such as a DNA polymerase inserting a wrong base. In the scenario you described, if a C is accidentally incorporated instead of an A into one newly synthesized DNA strand in a bacterium, and this error is not corrected, after the original bacterium has divided once, we can expect that half of its progeny would contain the mutation.
This is because during DNA replication, each new DNA molecule contains one strand from the original molecule and one newly synthesized strand. The process is known as semiconservative replication, where half of the original DNA molecule is conserved in each new DNA molecule. Therefore, if one of the original DNA strands has the mutation (C instead of A), then one of the synthesized strands in each progeny will also have the mutation, resulting in 50% of the progeny carrying the mutation.
It's important to note that the error in DNA replication may not necessarily have an effect on the ability of the progeny bacterium to grow and reproduce, as stated in the scenario. This is because some mutations may have no noticeable impact on an organism's phenotype or function.