It isn't anything magical - a bacteria senses stress via molecular signal transduction resulting in activation of specific transcription factors that cause the expression of stress response genes.
It isn't anything magical - a bacteria senses stress via molecular signal transduction resulting in activation of specific transcription factors that cause the expression of stress response genes. Blithely stated, but the mechanism was there before the chemical insult because the DNA polymerase itself is far removed from the chemical process which kills the cell. Your answer is akin to saying, "a car runs because a spark ignites a air/gasoline mixture", which it does, speaking of the spark.