Chapter 14: Natural

Selection and Adaptation

Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus
Harmless to most carriers
Between 30% and 40% carry staph on
skin or in noses

Staphylococcus aureus
In otherwise healthy people, some
strains of staph can cause minor skin
eruptions

Staphylococcus aureus
Some staph bacteria have developed
resistance to antibiotics
About 1% carry drug-resistant strains
of staph
MRSA, VRSA

Staphylococcus aureus
People with weakened immune
systems
high risk of staph-caused pneumonia,
sepsis, or infections of surgical wounds

In recent years, some healthy people

have fallen ill to drug-resistant
strains

Antibiotics
Recall: Antibiotics kill bacteria or slow
growth by interfering with essential
bacterial cell structures

Acquiring resistance
How does this happen??
EVOLUTION.
random mutations
new alleles
genetic diversity

Acquiring resistance
Bacteria
reproduce
asexually by
binary
fission

Acquiring resistance
Each time DNA is replicated, there is a
chance for genetic mutations
-- alleles carried into daughter cells
Rapid reproduction
-- high rate of mutation
accumulation

Acquiring resistance
A bacterium can also acquire new
alleles by gene swapping with other
bacteria

How populations evolve

Population: a group of organisms of
the same species living together in
the same geographic area.

How populations evolve

An entire population of organisms with a new trait
can arise only when the environment favors that
trait that is, when carrying the specific trait is
advantageous to the organisms carrying it.

How populations evolve

When a populations environment
favors some traits over others:
the frequencies of the alleles that
code for those traits in the
population change over time.
This change in the frequency of
alleles in the population over time is
called evolution.

How populations evolve

An organisms ability to survive and
reproduce in a particular environment is
called fitness..

How populations evolve

Natural selection favors some traits
over others; the population shows
adaptation (over time)

How populations evolve

Important: Evolution by natural
selection occurs in populations, not
individuals..

Patterns of natural selection

Ultimately, interplay between an
organisms traits and its environment is
what determines what traits will be
passed on in a population. Organisms
can be fit in one environment and not in
another.

Differential survival and reproduction of

individuals within a population in
response to environmental pressure is
known as natural selection.

Natural selection occurs in

patterns
Scientists
have defined
three major
patterns of
natural
selection.

Natural selection occurs in

patterns

Directional selection occurs when

organisms with phenotypes at one
end of a spectrum are favored by the
environment.

Natural selection occurs in

patterns

Stabilizing selection occurs when

organisms with phenotypes near the
middle of the phenotypic range of
variation are favored by the
environment.

Natural selection occurs in

patterns

Diversifying selection occurs when

organisms with phenotypes at both
extremes of the phenotypic range of
variation are favored by the
environment.

Stopping superbugs
Because the use of antibiotics can drive bacterial
populations to evolve resistance, antibiotic resistance is
inevitable. The best way to control resistance is to
change practices that enable resistant strains to thrive.