Emmanuel Babere

Bio 203 Lab 7

Section 300
Microbial Sampling
QUESTIION 1
Human bacteria are unicellular prokaryotes that reside in various parts of the body as

microbiome. Some bacteria are pathogenic while others are not. Over time, different antibiotics

have been developed as treatments for pathogenic bacteria.

The use/misuse of antibiotics against bacteria like C-diff has led to the antibiotic

resistant species. The exposure to antibiotic acts as a selection pressure in the bacteria

surrounding. As they compete to survive in that environment over a period, in the process of

natural selection the best suited survive. During reproduction, random mutations occur and the

trait for antibiotic resistance evolves. This trait can be passed on to the next generation of

bacteria population. The more antibiotics are used, the more the bacteria strive for survival, the

more natural selection takes place that leads to evolution of new species – more resistant type.

This makes the overuse/misuse of antibiotics dangerous because eventually, we will run out of

treatment options as the current antibiotics are becoming more and more ineffective.

According to CDC, 3.5 million people are diagnosed with an antibiotic resistant bacterium every

year. Among these, at least 35,000 die every year.

QUESTION 2

Microbiomes are bacterium populations found on different parts of the human body

including that skin and the large intestine. This microbiome protects the body against other
foreign microbes that could be pathogenic. Maintaining a healthier population of bacteria

within the gut and skin is important because this bacterium helps keep foreign pathogenic

bacteria at bay.

Using antibiotic/antiseptic soaps on our skin has the potential of getting rid of part of

the microbiomes residing in the skin. This creates room for other potential and perhaps

pathogenic microbes to inhabit the skin and may cause disease. Therefore, all things

considered, antibiotic/antiseptic soaps may not be that helpful.

QUESTION 3
3A
Zone of Antibiotic
Disk number inhibition s
1 0 None
2 0 Penicillin
3 8.7 Clindamycin
Amoxicilli
4 1.5 n
5 8.6 Vancomycin
6 1 Erythromycin
7 3.4 Cephalexin

A graph showing the Zone of Inhibition (mm) for

different antibiotics (2-7).
10
9
Zone of inhibition (mm)

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Antibiotics
3B
The graph obtained above indicates that E. coli had varied sensitivities to Clindamycin,

amoxicillin, Vancomycin, Erythromycin and Cephalexin. The zone of sensitivity to Penicillin was

zero indicating that E. coli is tolerant to it which makes an ineffective treatment option.

Clindamycin and Vancomycin had the highest zone of inhibitions (8.7 and 8.6

respectively). This indicates that these two antibiotics are the most effective treatment options

for E. coli.

3C

The control was necessary because it helps compare the relative sensitivities of the

different antibiotics. For instance, If the control was not included, drawing the conclusion the

bacteria is completely insensitive to penicillin cannot be substantiated.

QUESTION 4

4A

Antibiotics are medicines that are used to treat/fight bacteria. They do so by either

killing the bacteria or by inhibiting their growth and multiplication (MedlinePlus.gov).

4B

Meropenem is an antibiotic that is used to treat many different infections

(Wikipedia.org/meropenem). It prevents growth of bacteria by inhibiting their cell-wall

synthesis (Wikipedia.org). According to Global RBH website, Meropenem is synthesized through

a series of reactions that ends up with a product that has meropenem trihydrate and sodium

carbonate.

4C

Most pathogenic bacteria are becoming resistant to the current antibiotics in the

market. Drug companies have started combining the already existing drugs to enhance

effectiveness, but bacteria develop resistance to such combinations too. Due to increasing

bacteria resistance to current medicine, the options for new antibiotics are becoming fewer to

non-existent.
Work Cited

Global RBH website on meropenem:

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrJ7Ff1Nxtfo3IAXxZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5

zBGNvbhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meropenem

Medline website:https://medlineplus.gov/antibiotics.html

Microbiomes information retrieved from:

http://www.microbiomeinstitute.org/humanmicrobiome

Center for Disease control and prevention website:

https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html

Table information obtained from:

Harless & Gibson (2020). BIO 203 Introductory Biology II Laboratory Lab 7: Microbial Sampling