What are the steps involved in specialized transduction?
Posted July 10, 2023
Answer
In specialized transduction, temperate bacteriophage transfer only a few specific DNA fragments from donor bacteria to recipient bacteria. The bacteriophage undergoes a lysogenic cycle in the donor cell. Steps involved in specialized transduction:
- Temperate bacteriophage enter the donor bacterium.
- The phage DNA gets integrated with the host cell’s DNA at specific locations.
- The imprecise severing of phage DNA results in the removal of a portion of the bacterial chromosome.
- The phage containing a portion of the bacterial chromosome infects a new host.
- The donor DNA is incorporated into the recipient bacterium during the lysogenic cycle of replication.
- At the end of the specialized transduction procedure, the recipient displays the newly acquired genetic characteristic.
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