Bacteria, given more than enough generations of laboratory testing and mutating, are never anything but bacteria
Without a natural selective pressure in nature to do otherwise they will remain bacteria.
As far as the laboratory how do you know that enough generations of laboratory testing have been conducted? Again we have not placed bacteria in a petri dish for long enough duration to do this (maybe what 50-60 years of serious bacteria related research in which strains have been subjected to various outside stimuli). What is the longest continuously cultivated bacteria strain we have?
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.Dr. Carl Sagan