Nylon Eating Bacterium
Example of natural selection resulting in evolution.
A little background history
The Bacterium Flavobacterium is able to digest and metabolise nylon as their main food source, due to certain enzymes the bacterium possess .
Nylon is a tough, lightweight, synthetic polymer that is used in hosiery, active wear and swimwear, amount various other end uses
Nylon
Nylon In it's purest form before dying.
Nylon
Nylon at a microscopic cross section view.
Nylon
Nylon in its finished state completely woven and dyed.
Nylon Eating Bacterium and Natural Selection.
The main characteristic that divides the Flavobacterium is that is has the ability to change and adapt. When you take a non-nylon eating variety of this bacterium and place it in an environment where the only type of food is nylon. Every single time the bacterium would evolve until it was able to consume nylon. This shows a very simple example of natural selection, where the most basic forms of life can adapt to whatever food the environment offers. This adaptation can leads to the Flavobacterium to have a competitive edge over other bacterium that mainly eat carbohydrates. This development also leads to variation in the species which can lead to more evolutionary processes resulting is further development of the species.
How does this process happen?
Step one
Red nylon product
Blue non nylon eating bacteria.
Step two
Non nylon eating bacteria reproduce.
Step three
During the reproduction of a non nylon eating bacteria an new variation is formed over time which allows it to eat the nylon product. (Purple dot)
Step four
New nylon eating variation eats nylon product.
Step five
Because of natural selection the nylon eating bacteria can survive whilst the other "non nylon eating" bacteria is left the die. Survival of the fittest.
Step six
Soon after we are left with just the nylon eating bacteria.