Conjugation 3

Conjugation is the process of transferring genetic information between two bacterial cells using a DNA molecule. Unlike the transformation mechanism, conjugation has a number of certain features. Its characteristic feature is the obligatory presence of only a living donor cell. Once in direct contact with the recipient cell, it ensures the transfer of all its chromosomal DNA or a DNA segment to the second cell. At the same time, the recipient cell passes a monomeric DNA molecule from the donor cell into the nucleus through an intercellular bridge formed by specific enzymes. Subsequently, this molecule can either be integrated into the chromosome of the recipient cell using an enzymatic mechanism, or remain in an isolated state in the donor and recipient (Schiller, 1980).

Conjugation of bacteria with plasmids is also called transduction. The name transduction comes from the Latin word transduction - “transfer”. Transduction is widely used in genetic research and genetic engineering, and also finds application in industry (Demakov, 2013).