Antibiotics in Action

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    Evolution and Disease

    This reading uses the issue of antibiotic resistance to demonstrate how evolution works. It first explores how the use of antibiotics has placed an evolutionary pressure on bacteria to evolve to become more resistant to antibiotics. Then it examines the idea that evolutionary pressures may be used to make microbes evolve into less virulent forms.

    The ideas presented in this reading are explored more fully in the PBS documentary series Evolution. The fourth episode, entitled The Evolutionary Arms Race, is entirely devoted to the present-day evolution of microbes into more and less virulent forms due to differing evolutionary pressures. This 1-hour video is highly recommended and is available on VHS from WGBH Boston for $19.95, and may be purchased at the Evolution Shop. The companion Web site to the series may also be of use, and may be accessed at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/

    In addition, you may want to refer to the work of Andrew Camilli and coworkers concerning the different behavior of cultured V. cholerae the same bacterium found in vivo. The findings were reported in “Host-Induced Epidemic Spread of the Cholera Bacterium” (Nature, 417, pp. 642-645, 6 June 2002).

    Relevant National Science Education Standards

      Unifying Concepts and Processes — The reading deals with the interacting components of the ecological systems in which evolution occurs.

      Life Sciences — The reading explores the processes and dynamics of biological evolution.

      Sciences and Technology — The reading deals with the consequences of antibiotic technology and explores what technology might be applied to exert evolutionary pressure on microorganisms to make them less virulent.

      Science and Personal and Social Perpectives — The reading deals with personal and community health, natural and human-induced hazards, and science and technology in local, national, and global challenges.

    Relevant New Jersey State Science Education Standards

      5.4 The reading looks at how our scientific knowledge of evolutionary processes might be applied to produce a disease-fighting technology.
      5.5 The reading explores biological evolution in vastly different organisms.
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