Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Which part of MRSA mutates?

I have a home work about antibiotics and painkillers and I'm really stuck on this question.

It basically has a random mutation that makes it resistant to antibiotics, there's no distinguishable "part" (as far as I know). It is then more likely to survive and reproduce, and then passes that mutation on until its frequency in the population increases and most of the bacteria are resistant. This continues over many generations.

Reply 2

username1221160

It's caused by a gene called MecA. The protein it produces binds to the antibiotic and prevents it from buggering up bacterial cell wall biosynthesis.