[GratefulCitizen]

"Antibiotic resistance is ancient."

So it makes sense that bacteria could be naturally selected for this pre-existing trait.
This is not the creation of new genetic information.



From "The evolution of membranes."

"The physical properties are governed by the structures formed when these molecules aggregate in a manner dictated by the normal laws of physics and physical chemistry. Although the feedback leading to genetic control can be one or more stages removed from protein synthesis that is controlled directly by nucleic acid sequences, we assume that evolutionary processes still lead to optimization of the physical properties of biological materials because of the almost unimaginably long time scale available. This assumption is the motivation for our examination of membrane evolution in this chapter.
The assumption of optimization of physical properties via evolutionary processes cannot be proven for cell membranes at this time."


This assumption has two parts:
-Small changes are, on average, beneficial.
-A large period of time is available.

A few questions:
What are the changes that occur at the chemical level?
What is the probability that the change is beneficial?
How often do the changes occur?
How much time is available?