Antibiotic resistant bacteria is a big concern now a day due to the use of excessive and improper use of antibiotics. It is very common for people to star taking an antibiotic and stop the regimen as soon as the symptoms are gone. With this practice, bacteria that were not killed by the antibiotic but were exposed, are capable of becoming immune to it. This immunity or resistance can be passed on from bacteria to bacteria through the exchange of their genetic material using some of the methods of horizontal gene transfer. As a result, the resistance acquired by one pathogen can be passed to other pathogens.
2) Describe conjugation in prokaryotes.
Conjugation in prokaryotes is the method used to transfer genetic materials from alive donor cells, and is mediated by pili. Pili are proteinaceous tubes outspreading from the surface of a cell. The cells that are the donor during conjugation have an F Plasmid (fertility plasmid), which is a circular, small, extrachromosomal molecule of DNA. Donor with cells are referred as F+ and recipient as F-. This process involves the following steps: 1) The pilus connects the donor cell (F+) and the recipient cell (F-). 2) Only a single strand of the F plasmid DNA is transfer to the recipient. 3) The recipient (F-) …show more content…
In some cases, the DNA comes from a dead organism. When the cells have the ability to take up DNA from their environment, they are known to be competent. In a competent cell, the cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane are altered to allow the DNA to go into the cell. This process can happen naturally in the environment or it artificially by manipulating the temperature and salt concentration of the medium. Since competent cells can accept DNA from any donor genome, competence and transformation are essential tools in recombinant DNA technology, known as genetic