Bacterial recombination is a type of genetic recombination in bacteria characterized by DNA transfer from one organism called donor to another organism as recipient. This process occurs in three main ways:
Transformation, the uptake of exogenous DNA from the surrounding environment.
Transduction, the virus-mediated transfer of DNA between bacteria.
Conjugation, the transfer of DNA from one bacterium to another via cell-to-cell contact.[1][2][3][4]
The final result of conjugation, transduction, and/or transformation is the production of genetic recombinants, individuals that carry not only the genes they inherited from their parent cells but also the genes introduced to their genomes by conjugation, transduction, and/or transformation.[5][6][7]
The ability to undergo natural transformation is present in at least 67 bacterial species.[9]Natural transformation is common among pathogenic bacterial species.[10] In some cases, the DNA repair capability provided by recombination during transformation facilitates survival of the infecting bacterial pathogen.[10] Bacterial transformation is carried out by numerous interacting bacterial gene products.[9]
^Bajrović K, Jevrić-Čaušević A, Hadžiselimović R, eds. (2005). Uvod u genetičko inženjerstvo i biotehnologiju. Institut za genetičko inženjerstvo i biotehnologiju (INGEB) Sarajevo. ISBN9958-9344-1-8.
^Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K (2002). Molecular Biology of the Cell (4th ed.). Garland Science. ISBN0-8153-4072-9.