Which process involves bacteriophage particles transferring bacterial DNA from one bacterium to another?

Which process involves bacteriophage particles transferring bacterial DNA from one bacterium to another?

• A. Conjugation
• B. Transduction
• C. Transformation
• D. Lysogeny

Answer: (B)

Transduction is the process by which bacteriophages move bacterial DNA from one cell to another. During a phage infection, a mistake can cause a phage to package pieces of the host bacterium’s DNA instead of its own genome. Those phage particles then carry that bacterial DNA into a new bacterium when they infect it, delivering new genetic material that can recombine with the recipient’s chromosome. This can be general (random bacterial genes) or specialized (genes adjacent to a prophage during lysogeny). In contrast, transformation involves taking up free DNA from the environment, conjugation requires direct cell-to-cell contact and transfer of plasmids, and lysogeny is the integration of the phage genome into the host chromosome rather than direct DNA transfer to another cell via a phage particle.

Transduction is the process by which bacteriophages move bacterial DNA from one cell to another. During a phage infection, a mistake can cause a phage to package pieces of the host bacterium’s DNA instead of its own genome. Those phage particles then carry that bacterial DNA into a new bacterium when they infect it, delivering new genetic material that can recombine with the recipient’s chromosome. This can be general (random bacterial genes) or specialized (genes adjacent to a prophage during lysogeny). In contrast, transformation involves taking up free DNA from the environment, conjugation requires direct cell-to-cell contact and transfer of plasmids, and lysogeny is the integration of the phage genome into the host chromosome rather than direct DNA transfer to another cell via a phage particle.