Genetic Variation in Bacteria Flashcards
What are mutations?
Changes in DNA that result in different characteristics. One or more bases may be added, deleted or replaced by others.
Explain the process of conjugation.
Conjugation occurs when one bacterial cell transfers DNA to another bacterial cell…
1) One cell produces a thin projection that meets another cell and forms a thin conjugation tube between two cells
2) The donor cell replicates one of its small circular pieces of DNA (plasmid).
3) The circular DNA is broken to make it linear before it passes along the tube into the recipient cell.
4) Contact between the cells is brief, leaving only time for a portion of the donors DNA to be transferred.
5) In this way the recipient cell acquires new characteristics from the donor cell.
What is horizontal gene transmission?
In conjugation where DNA in the form of genes is passed down from one species to another species.
What is vertical gene transmission?
Where genes are passed down from one generation of a species to the next generation of the same species.
