Despite Some Evidence That Antibiotic Resistance Can Confer a Fitness

Despite some evidence that antibiotic resistance can confer a fitness disadvantage to bacteria in nonantibiotic environments as compared to susceptible strains,research has also documented that ________.

A) compensatory evolution by way of mutation events in other genes may very well make antibiotic resistant strains as fit, or even more fit, than sensitive strains
B) an energy balance trade-off outweighs the advantages that antibiotic sensitive strains have otherwise
C) strains sensitive to antibiotics will readily and spontaneously mutate at will to achieve antibiotic resistance, even in the absence of antibiotics
D) None of the above.