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It would depend on what sort of pollutant you are talking about. Many antibiotics act in subtle and complex ways because they need to be able to damage bacteria
by ufo 14y ago
It would depend on what sort of pollutant you are talking about. Many antibiotics act in subtle and complex ways because they need to be able to damage bacteria without damaging the human. Effective, evolving resistance is just a small "fix" for the bacteria.
However, some kinds of things like strong detergents, high temperatures, and so on qould require too much change to protect against so the bacteria can't evolve resistance to it. (sure, there are bacteria out there that might better resist these extreme conditions but you won't easily be able to evolve any bacteria you want to do the same)
- Houshalter 14y agoSure it could probably evolve resistance, it would just take much more time, and in an environment that constantly maintains a reasonable amount of selection pressure, increasing it as they evolve. Humans could assist the process by "island hopping". Like trying to select for ones that produce a certain chemical, then another chemical that requires that, step by step. As opposed to hoping they get a mutation that lets them produce a complex chemical by random chance. It would still take a while, but bacteria have very short generations and can support huge populations, so it's far, far easier for them to evolve than anything else.
- ufo 14y agoWhat you are suggesting seems awefully hard to do though. Its pobably easier to just get a ready-made gene from some other bacteria and insert it into the bacteria you care about.
- Houshalter 14y agoThat only works if such a gene exists already though.