If a hospital patient's urinary tract infection, initially susceptible to a specific antibiotic, develops resistance after several days, which mechanism most likely explains the rapid adaptation?

💡 Explanation

Horizontal gene transfer involving plasmids allows for the quick spread of antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria because these plasmids can carry genes encoding resistance and transfer them rapidly; therefore, resistance emerges quickly, rather than only through slower mutational processes or localized changes in degradation.

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