Compare and Contrast the Biological Principle Behind the Development of Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria and Insecticide Resistance in Pests.

Compare and Contrast the biological principle behind the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and insecticide resistance in pests.

similarities:

1. both involve mutation in genetic material ( most likely gene mutation ) to produce resistance form

2. both involve the mechanism of natural selection by which resistance individuals have a higher chance of survival due to their selective advantage and pass their genes to the next generation

3. both resistance type will become the dominant type within their own population over many generations

4. both involve a selection pressure ( antibiotic for bacteria / insecticides for pests ) by which individuals possessing selective advantage ( resistance ) are selected for, and others being selective against by nature

5. development of resistance involve physiological change, this may be due to the change in nucleotide sequence or gene number giving rise to new amino acids in new sequences. these a.a. may form new protein for modifying body structure or neutralizing the antibiotic / insecticides

differences: antibiotic res. v.s. insecticide res.

1. shorter time v.s. longer time
( bacteria have higher reproduction / division rate and a shorter life cycle than most pests )

2. more frequent v.s. less frequent
( high mutation rate of bacteria   +   bacteria have much smaller number of genes in their DNA. mutant genes can express themselves easily. )

3. involve both horizontal and vertical transmission v.s. only vertical transmission
( bacteria can form conjugation tube for the transmission of plasmids carrying resistant genes. pests do not have such mechanism to exchange genetic materials with individuals in same generation. )

4. 1 individual bacterium is more likely to develop multiple resistance against different antibiotics v.s. 1 individual pest is less likely to develop resistance against many insecticides
( bacteria : resistance genes for antibiotic are on...