Question

Nylon is a material made by humans. A nylon factory released wastewater containing small pieces of nylon into a pond. Some bacteria in this pond were able to eat the nylon and use it for energy. These bacteria could do this because they had a protein that could break the nylon down. This protein had developed through a mutation and was not present in any other strain of bacteria.

Which of the following correctly explains the information?
A.
Bacteria have the ability to create new proteins to match their environment.
B.
Some bacteria learned how to digest nylon, and other bacteria learned from them.
C.
The mutation resulted in a beneficial trait that enhanced survival, and offspring inherited it.
D.
Materials made by humans are useful to organisms and cause beneficial mutations.

Answer 1

C

A random mutation produced a new protein (nylonase) that let those bacteria use nylon as food. That trait was beneficial in that environment, so bacteria with it survived and passed the gene to offspring — a classic example of mutation + natural selection.

(The other choices imply directed/learned changes or that human materials cause mutations, which is incorrect.)