Generalized transduction is a process of horizontal gene transfer in which a bacteriophage incorrectly packages a random fragment of the host bacterium's degraded chromosome into its capsid instead of viral DNA during the lytic cycle. When this phage infects a new bacterial cell, it injects the previous host's DNA. This asexual gene transfer can lead to DNA recombination, providing the recipient bacterium with new genes, such as those for antibiotic resistance or sugar metabolism.

Generalized Transduction

Specialized transduction is a horizontal gene transfer mechanism that occurs at the end of the lysogenic cycle when a prophage undergoes induction and enters the lytic cycle. During excision from the host chromosome, the phage may mistakenly remove adjacent bacterial DNA from one or both ends of the integration site. This specific piece of host DNA is packaged with the viral DNA into the capsid and transferred to a new host, where it can recombine and convey new characteristics.

Specialized Transduction

Viral transduction is a process of horizontal gene transfer where a bacteriophage transfers DNA from one host bacterium to another during sequential infections. This asexual exchange of genetic information can result in DNA recombination, potentially introducing new genes, such as sugar-metabolizing or antibiotic-resistance genes, to the recipient bacteria, and playing a key role in bacterial evolution.

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- Transformation
- Transduction
- Conjugation

Types of Horizontal Gene Transfer

A virus that can infect one or more species of bacteria. 

Bacteriophage

- Restriction Enzymes
- Transformation
- Conjugation
- Transduction
- Genomic Library 

Techniques for Molecular Cloning in Bacteria

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Conjugation is a mechanism of gene transfer where the cells use a conjugation pilus to transfer DNA between cells. The conjugation pilus is encoded on the F plasmid. 

Conjugation

Transformation is a method of horizontal gene transfer where foreign, naked DNA is taken up by a bacteria. Many bacteria are competent at interacting with environmental DNA and take up DNA. Transformation has been used for genetic engineering purposes with bacteria as well.

Transformation

Viral Transduction

Bacteriophages can be used as an antimicrobial treatment to prevent food spoilage. For example, a spray solution containing six bacteriophages is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to target and kill *Listeria monocytogenes*, the bacterial pathogen responsible for causing listeriosis in lunch meats.

Bacteriophages in Food Preservation

Phage therapy is a clinical procedure that uses bacteria-killing viruses (bacteriophages) to treat bacterial infections. First introduced in 1915 by Frederick Twort, this therapy was largely abandoned after the discovery of antibiotics, but interest has re-emerged due to the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Phage Therapy

A virulent phage is a bacteriophage that replication leads typically to the destruction and death of the host bacterial cell through lysis.

Virulent Phage

A temperate phage is a bacteriophage that can integrate its genome into the host cell's chromosome, replicating along with the host cell until induction triggers it to assemble new progeny viruses.

Temperate Phage

Phage typing is a method of identifying specific bacterial strains or subspecies by exploiting the narrow host range of bacteriophages, which only infect specific bacteria.

Phage Typing

Bacteriophage replication can proceed through two main pathways: the lytic cycle, which involves replicating viral parts, assembling them into virions, and lysing the host cell to release them; and the lysogenic cycle, where the viral DNA integrates into the host chromosome as a prophage and replicates alongside it, potentially excising itself to enter the lytic cycle under stress.

Bacteriophage Replication Cycles

A common cloning technique to design and make recombinant DNA uses restriction enzymes that were found primarily in bacteria. Natively, restriction enzymes cut foreign DNA that could have been introduced from an infection. For cloning experiments, restriction enzymes can be used to make DNA fragments and create recombinant DNA.

Restriction Enzymes

A genomic library contains a copy of the cell's genomic DNA that becomes a "library" of recombinant DNA plasmids. This allows for sequencing the genomes and for identifying the function of genes in the genome.

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