What makes an organism resistant to a chemical?
1 Answer
Mar 17, 2017
The ability to resist absorbing the chemical into the cytoplasm and body tissues.
Explanation:
An example is the bacteria resistance to antibiotics. The bacteria loses genetic material that builds proteins on the outside of the cell membrane. ( The Beak of the Finch pages 260-262) By losing these proteins the bacteria have gained resistance at the cost of some genetic information. The antibiotics lose the entrance that allowed the chemical to enter the bacteria.
There is natural variation within any population. Some of the organisms within a population may have skin that is less porous and so more resistance to the chemicals being absorbed . These organisms would have an advantage over the organisms that have a more porous outer membrane.
