What is bacterial conjugation?
Q: What is bacterial conjugation?
A: Bacterial conjugation is the transfer of genetic material between bacterial cells by direct cell-to-cell contact or by a bridge-like connection between two cells.
Q: What are the other mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer?
A: The other mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer are transformation and transduction, though these two other mechanisms do not involve cell-to-cell contact.
Q: Who discovered bacterial conjugation?
A: Bacterial conjugation was discovered by Nobel Prize winners Joshua Lederberg and Edward Tatum.
Q: What did Lederberg and Tatum show about Escherichia coli during conjugation?
A: Lederberg and Tatum showed that the bacterium Escherichia coli entered a sexual phase during which it could share genetic information.
Q: What does the donor cell provide during conjugation?
A: During conjugation, the donor cell provides a conjugative or mobilizable genetic element that is most often a plasmid or transposon.
Q: What are the benefits of the genetic information transferred during conjugation?
A: The genetic information transferred during conjugation is often beneficial to the recipient. Benefits may include antibiotic resistance, xenobiotic tolerance or the ability to use new metabolites.
Q: How may some elements transferred during conjugation be viewed?
A: Other elements transferred during conjugation may be viewed as bacterial parasites and conjugation as a mechanism evolved by them to allow for their spread.
