Quote:Then why havent bacteria turned into something greater by now? They have had billions of generations since people were paying attention in the last 50 years. Ecoli replicates every 20 minutes. Why hasnt it evolved into another species? All its done is gain new immunity to drugs. Thinking minds want to know...

You have a very poor understanding of evolution. Why haven't bacteria turned into something greater? What does that even mean? There is more bacterial biomass on this planet than all the combined biomass of all the "higher" order lifeforms that have ever existed on this planet. There are more than 100x more bacteria cells in your own body than human cells. Bacteria live and have been discovered essentially everywhere. They've been on this planet orders of magnitude longer than humans which have only existed somewhere in the realm of 1 million years. Bacteria are one of the most successful domains in Earth's 4.6 BYA history. They can resist extremes of pressure, temperature, radiation, chemicals, metals....and long after humanity destroys itself they will still be here. They don't need to evolve into larger more complex lifeforms. The way their genetic mechanisms work (vertical and horizontal gene transfer) and their reproduction operates ensures they will continue being extremely successful.


In terms of E. Coli there are other serotypes which are essentially subspecies. Salmonella enterica has like 10 or more serotypes.

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