Microbiology 9th Edition by Laura Black, Jacquelyn Black

Exercise 34

Because bacteria are able to replicate at high rates, they are subjected to mistakes or mutations being made in their nucleotide sequence. For example, the nucleotide sequence in a gene coding for a protein might be AATTGGCCA but because of mutation might become GGTTGGCCA. How may such a mutation become beneficial to the bacterium? How may it become harmful?