And can it share this resistance with other bacteria?
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Bacteria replicate very very quickly so it also genetically mutates and branches out very quickly. The strongest mutation will tend to survive and replicate so if a mutation happens to be more resistant to some antibiotic and that antibiotic is present, then the more resistant bacteria will take over the population.
If you’re taking an antibiotic and stop taking it before you’ve completed the full course of treatment, you’ll have killed most but not all of the bacteria. Those remaining bacteria are still there because they’re resisted the antibiotic and since you’ve stopped taking the antibiotics they are now free to reproduce and create more antibiotic resistant bacterias.
Always take the full course of any antibiotics you’re prescribed.
Bacteria are weak organisms. That is why they have the natural ability to exchange parts of their DNA with each other. So if two bacteria meet, they exchange parts of their DNA to make each other stronger. So yeah they can share. That’s btw the principal used in making gmo plants.
While plenty of folks mentioned random mutation and then clonal expansion, its important to note horizontal gene transfer as the main method of acquiring antibiotic resistance. Many bacterium can transfer a small, circular segment of DNA to other bacteria (even different species and even if the donor bacterium is dead), and much of these transfers involve genes for antibiotic resistance.
Bacteria reproduse by splitting them self and creating two identical dauther cells. So If by chance one bacterium mutated in a way that lets it resist the antibiotic it will pass on the mutation to the next generation and so on…