A hypothetical bacterium swims among human intestinal contents until it finds a suitable location on the intestinal lining. It adheres to the intestinal lining using a feature that also protects it from phagocytes, bacteriophages, and dehydration. Fecal matter from a human in whose intestine this bacterium lives can spread the bacterium, even after being mixed with water and boiled. The bacterium is not susceptible to the penicillin family of antibiotics. It contains no plasmids and relatively little peptidoglycan. The cell also lacks F factors and F plasmids. Which of the following statements about the bacteria is most probably accurate?A) The bacterium cannot donate DNA through conjugation with another cell. B) The bacterium cannot take up DNA from its external environment. C) The bacterium cannot form an endospore. D) The bacterium cannot reproduce.

The bacterium cannot donate DNA through conjugation with another cell.

Explanation:

The conjugation is the process of sexual reproduction in bacteria.In this process genetic information from one bacteria is transferred to ,and recombined with that of other bacteria.

In this process a direct contact between the donor and recipient  leads to the establishment of a cytoplasmic bridge between them and transfer of a part of donor genome to recipient takes place.

The donor ability is determined the presence of self transmissible plasmid known as fertility plasmids and fertility factors.

Since, both the f factors and fertility plasmid are absent in the bacterium, it cannot donate DNA through conjugation.

not necessarily. higher fitness requires the organism to be reproductive successful. for example, an organism at age 10 with 15 offspring is much more fit than an organism at age 15 with only 5 offspring.

answercoenzymes;