Mutation, HGT, and superbugs
Do now
Explain how mutation and horizontal gene transfer spread resistance genes and create superbugs.
- Hand in
- HGT mechanism definitions, conjugation diagram with labeled parts, multi-resistance explanation, colony-data application scenario, and linking sentence connecting culturing to resistance to stewardship.
- Where
- Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not.
You get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
A patient carries a gut bacterium that is harmless but resistant to several antibiotics. How could its resistance genes end up inside a dangerous strain, turning a treatable infection into an untreatable one?
Explain how and spread resistance genes and create superbugs.
- • You will be able to explain and .
- • You will be able to describe how resistance genes spread between bacteria.
- • You will be able to explain how superbugs arise.
- In your own words, what is the difference between a and one bacterium sharing a gene with another?
- Why is a bacterium that resists five antibiotics at once much harder to explain by alone?
- 1Define and in your own words.
- 2Read how bacteria swap resistance genes even between different strains.
- 3Draw how one resistant cell can share a resistance gene with neighbors.
- 4Connect this to why superbugs can resist several antibiotics at once.
- 5Use your data to imagine how a resistant colony could take over.
- 6Write one sentence linking culturing, resistance, and stewardship.
What did this day actually feel like?
Mutation, HGT, and superbugs
Bacteria do not only inherit resistance from a parent, they can hand genes sideways to unrelated bacteria.
Horizontal gene transfer.
That is why resistance spreads faster than ordinary evolution predicts, and why a resistance gene in one species is a problem for all of them.
Turned in: notebook → Lab Notebooks folder
Fiction. There is no such student. The lessons, labs and dates are the real planned course; the student, the classmates and the conversations are invented.
The same day, drawn.
Bacteria do not only inherit resistance from a parent, they can hand genes sideways to unrelated bacteria. Horizontal gene transfer.
Fiction. There is no such student. The lessons, labs and dates are the real planned course; the student, the classmates and the conversations are invented.
🛠 Get unstuck · pick your level
🔑 Today's words · 5
Tap a word in the lesson for a plain meaning and one example. Recycled into next week's Do-Now.
Do the work · 80-minute blockfirst 5 min = hook▸
💡 Big idea: Resistance genes ride on plasmids that bacteria pass sideways through conjugation, , and transduction, so a susceptible cell can become multi-drug resistant in one transfer, which is why superbugs spread resistance faster than alone ever could.
- 0-10 minDefine and in notebook; list the three HGT mechanisms (conjugation, , transduction)
- 10-25 minRead how bacteria swap resistance genes via ; summarize in two sentences
- 25-42 minDraw a diagram: one resistant cell shares a resistance with a neighbor via conjugation; label all parts
- 42-55 minExplain how one HGT event can confer resistance to multiple antibiotics simultaneously; connect to the mechanism classes from the previous unit
- 55-68 minUse your data: if one colony on your plate were resistant, how long and under what conditions would it take over the plate? Write your reasoning
- 68-80 minWrite the linking sentence: culturing produces data, resistance explains what the data means, stewardship is what we do about it
- • MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) kills more Americans each year than HIV; it became resistant through exactly the mechanisms you are about to study.
- • Unlike animals, bacteria can pass resistance genes to bacteria of a completely different species; they do not have to wait for reproduction.
- • Your data from Wednesday gives you a real population to apply these ideas to.
- • Exit goal: a HGT diagram showing a resistance gene moving between cells and a superbug connection sentence.
- • (HGT) moves DNA between bacteria via conjugation ( transfer), (environmental DNA uptake), or transduction (phage-mediated).
- • Because resistance genes often travel on plasmids, a single HGT event can make a previously susceptible bacterium resistant to multiple antibiotics simultaneously.
- • Superbugs (like MRSA and CRE) carry multiple resistance genes acquired through HGT over time; some are now resistant to all available antibiotics.
Aseptic technique, culturing, selection, resistance genes, and data reliability. · , HGT, and superbugs
Day 4 of this lesson. Open this exact section in myPLTW (find it in Clever, Microsoft sign-in), then do the work below.
Do this: Return to Activity 1.2.3 Attack of the Superbugs in myPLTW and measure your zones from the incubated plates.
Record zone-of- measurements for each and write your best-antibiotic conclusion.
Plates should be inoculated (Wednesday); zone measurements and conclusion due today.
with zone measurements and conclusion sentence in notebook.
The official PLTW activity stays inside myPLTW. If myPLTW will not open, use F1 and E1-E3 on this page to complete today's local evidence decision, then make up the official activity when access returns. Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not.
Check things off as you work, then submit. This tells Mr. Mendoza how you're doing so he can help the class. It does not replace turning in your producible through the submission route shown below.
Use the code Mr. Mendoza gave you, not your name. Saved on this device.
Aseptic technique, culturing, selection, resistance genes, and data reliability. · Mutation, HGT, and superbugs
Return to Activity 1.2.3 Attack of the Superbugs in myPLTW and measure your zones from the incubated plates.
Plates should be inoculated (Wednesday); zone measurements and conclusion due today.
This is how Mr. Mendoza sees the class keeping pace with PLTW. Be honest, it only helps if it is accurate.
🎯 Explain how and spread resistance genes and create superbugs.
- Define and in your own words.
- Read how bacteria swap resistance genes even between different strains.
- Draw how one resistant cell can share a resistance gene with neighbors.
- Connect this to why superbugs can resist several antibiotics at once.
- Use your data to imagine how a resistant colony could take over.
- Write one sentence linking culturing, resistance, and stewardship.
Notebook check: HGT mechanism definitions, conjugation diagram with labeled parts, multi-resistance explanation, -data application scenario, and linking sentence connecting culturing to resistance to stewardship.
Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not. Use the checklist just below and upload by 11:29 PM for full credit. Absent with an excused absence? You get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
| Task | Who |
|---|---|
| Define and in your own words. | _______ |
| Read how bacteria swap resistance genes even between different strains. | _______ |
| Draw how one resistant cell can share a resistance gene with neighbors. | _______ |
| Connect this to why superbugs can resist several antibiotics at once. | _______ |
| Use your data to imagine how a resistant colony could take over. | _______ |
| Write one sentence linking culturing, resistance, and stewardship. | _______ |
Working solo? Put your own name in "Who" for every row.
- You will be able to explain and .
- You will be able to describe how resistance genes spread between bacteria.
- You will be able to explain how superbugs arise.
- 1Do thisExplain how mutation and horizontal gene transfer spread resistance genes and create superbugs.
- 2Use this resource
- 3Submit thisNotebook check: HGT mechanism definitions, conjugation diagram with labeled parts, multi-resistance explanation, colony-data application scenario, and linking sentence connecting culturing to resistance to stewardship.
- 4Submit it here
- 1Open the drop folder.
- 2Sign in with your district Microsoft account, not a personal one.
- 3Upload the file, named Lastname_Firstname__Assignment Title.
- 4Your own upload panel says Uploaded with a green check: that is your receipt.
Turn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not. Genetics of Disease (Medical Interventions) › Aseptic technique, culturing, selection, resistance genes, and data reliability. › Notebook checkOpen the drop folder
Learn it · deck, reading, and vocabulary▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Generated from this lesson's canonical data with a red-team citation check.
A isolates single cells so that each descends from one bacterium, which is why counting distinct colonies and describing consistent morphology gives you reliable data about a single strain.
Resistance genes ride on plasmids that bacteria pass sideways through conjugation, , and transduction, so a susceptible cell can become multi-drug resistant in one transfer, which is why superbugs spread resistance faster than alone ever could.
A library keeps a master plan protected while working copies guide production at different stations.
- Why protect the master copy?
- What information moves?
- Where can an error change the final product?
Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
Genes are regulated biological sequences, not conscious instructions, and one gene rarely determines a whole trait alone.
- • Master plan maps to DNA.
- • Working copy maps to RNA.
- • Production output maps to or a regulated cell function.
Driving question: A patient carries a gut bacterium that is harmless but resistant to several antibiotics. How could its resistance genes end up inside a dangerous strain, turning a treatable infection into an untreatable one?
What you already know: A isolates single cells so that each descends from one bacterium, which is why counting distinct colonies and describing consistent morphology gives you reliable data about a single strain.
New idea: Resistance genes ride on plasmids that bacteria pass sideways through conjugation, , and transduction, so a susceptible cell can become multi-drug resistant in one transfer, which is why superbugs spread resistance faster than alone ever could.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Mutation, HGT, and superbugs. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled testing, treatment, or biological process and identify where evidence limits the decision.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in , HGT, and superbugs.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: A patient carries a gut bacterium that is harmless but resistant to several antibiotics. How could its resistance genes end up inside a dangerous strain, turning a treatable infection into an untreatable one?
What the evidence supports: E1-E3 and F1 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • : A set of careful practices used to keep microbes out of a sterile area, protecting samples, cultures, and patients from .
- • : A population of microbes or cells grown on purpose in a nutrient medium so they can be studied, identified, or tested.
- • : A visible cluster of identical microorganisms growing on a plate, all descended from a single original cell.
- • : The slowing or blocking of a process, such as an stopping bacteria from growing or a molecule shutting down an .
- • : A change in the ; some change a enough to cause disease, many do not.
- • : The passing of genes between organisms, often bacteria, without reproduction, a major way resistance spreads.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
(HGT) moves DNA between bacteria via conjugation ( transfer), (environmental DNA uptake), or transduction (phage-mediated).
Limit: E1 supplies context or an observation; it does not by itself establish the explanation.
Resistance genes ride on plasmids that bacteria pass sideways through conjugation, , and transduction, so a susceptible cell can become multi-drug resistant in one transfer, which is why superbugs spread resistance faster than alone ever could.
Limit: E2 is a teaching statement or comparison and must be checked against the task evidence.
You will be able to explain and .
Limit: E3 supports only the result or product criterion named here; it cannot justify a broader clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-GEND-2026-10-02 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: medical interventions team member
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from , HGT, and superbugs supports before submitting the notebook record named on the lesson page.
- • Select the option best supported by E1-E3.
- • Select a reasonable alternative and name the evidence it would require.
- • Delay the claim because the evidence does not distinguish the options.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the notebook record.
Claim ceiling: The supplied lesson evidence can support an observation, pattern, classroom mechanism, or next-step decision about , HGT, and superbugs. It cannot by itself prove causation, establish a real clinical diagnosis, or justify action outside this classroom task.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from , HGT, and superbugs supports before submitting the notebook record named on the lesson page.
Context: Resistance genes can move between bacteria, even between different species, on mobile pieces of DNA, so bacteria evolve resistance far faster than alone would allow, which is what makes superbugs so hard to stop.
- • T1: Define and in your own words.
- • T2: Read how bacteria swap resistance genes even between different strains.
- • T3: Draw how one resistant cell can share a resistance gene with neighbors.
- • T4: Connect this to why superbugs can resist several antibiotics at once.
- • T5: Use your data to imagine how a resistant colony could take over.
- • T6: Write one sentence linking culturing, resistance, and stewardship.
- • E1: (HGT) moves DNA between bacteria via conjugation ( transfer), (environmental DNA uptake), or transduction (phage-mediated).
- • E2: Resistance genes ride on plasmids that bacteria pass sideways through conjugation, , and transduction, so a susceptible cell can become multi-drug resistant in one transfer, which is why superbugs spread resistance faster than alone ever could.
- • E3: You will be able to explain and .
Measurements: No patient measurement is supplied unless it appears explicitly in E1-E3 or F1. Do not invent a value.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for , HGT, and superbugs. Trace the labeled testing, treatment, or biological process and identify where evidence limits the decision. This is a teaching model, not patient or experimental data.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
Students often think Students often think bacteria become resistant only the way we picture evolution: a lucky appears, and resistant cells slowly out-survive the rest over many generations, one drug at a time.. The trap: That is a trap because it misses : bacteria can swap ready-made resistance genes sideways through conjugation ( transfer), (grabbing loose DNA), or transduction (phage delivery), even between different species, so a susceptible cell can become multi-drug resistant in a single event instead of waiting on its own mutations.
Definitions in my own words:
- Mutation: a random change in a bacterium's DNA. Once in a while a mutation happens to make the cell able to survive an antibiotic.
- Horizontal gene transfer (HGT): when one bacterium passes a gene to another bacterium instead of to its offspring. Resistance genes can move this way, even between different species.
How one resistant cell shares its gene (conjugation): A resistant cell builds a bridge called a pilus to a neighbor, copies its resistance plasmid, and sends the copy across. Now both cells are resistant.
Why superbugs resist several drugs at once: Resistance genes often ride on the same plasmid. One transfer can hand over resistance to multiple antibiotics in a single step, so a cell can become multi-drug resistant without slowly earning each resistance on its own.
Colony-data scenario: On my plate, imagine one of my 14 colonies carried a resistance plasmid. If I added an antibiotic, that colony's descendants would survive and the others would die, so over time the resistant colony would take over the whole plate.
Linking sentence: Careful culturing lets us see resistant strains, resistance spreads through mutation and HGT, and that is exactly why stewardship (using antibiotics sparingly and correctly) matters.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Completes the resistance-mechanism notebook page: definitions of mutation and horizontal gene transfer, a labeled conjugation diagram, a multi-resistance explanation, a colony-data scenario, and a linking sentence.
- Date and label the entry.
- Record the procedure, observation, or design decision clearly.
- End with what the evidence means and the next step.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Photograph and upload the page to your portfolio.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in Mutation, HGT, and superbugs. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Classroom documents for this lesson are posted in Schoology. Open Clever, then Schoology, and find each one by the name shown on its card.
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Culturing, , superbugs by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/00_Unit-Overview. Score 126. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched Culturing, , superbugs by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-1_How-to-Fight-Infection/1.2_-Treatment. Score 126. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
How to get there: open Clever and sign in with your Microsoft (district) account. Both myPLTW and Schoology are in Clever. Do the activity in myPLTW. Turn the work in on this site or hand it to Mr. Mendoza, because that is the step that counts as submitted. Schoology only shows your report-card grade later.
Check yourself · commit, then reveal▸
Claim ceiling for this check: The supplied lesson evidence can support an observation, pattern, classroom mechanism, or next-step decision about , HGT, and superbugs. It cannot by itself prove causation, establish a real clinical diagnosis, or justify action outside this classroom task.
A bacterium that was killed by three antibiotics last week is now resistant to all three, and no drug was used on it in between. Mutation alone is unlikely to explain this. What most likely happened, and by which mechanism could it happen in one step?
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Fast retrieval with instant answers, not the commit-then-reveal check above. Try each from memory first: write what you remember about the earlier units, then check yourself here.
Go further and get help▸
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
Today is individual work you can do from home: complete the same target above, then submit your Notebook check.
Open the drop folderTurn this in at the drop folder with your district Microsoft sign-in, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count as submitted. Doing the activity in myPLTW does not.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
CDC Antibiotic Resistance- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedTurned in the right way, on the class site or handed to Mr. Mendoza in class, and confirmed. Not in Schoology: that is where the report-card grade appears later.