Answer to Question #325268 in Genetics for Dds

Question

• When an Hfr bacterial cell transfers its chromo- somal DNA into an F2 recipient cell, where in the chromosome does the transfer process begin? How long does it take to transfer the entire chro- mosome? Why does complete chromosome trans- fer happen only rarely?
• How does the process of transduction differ from that of transformation?

Answer 1

The transfer process begins on the site named OriT (an origin of transfer) in the F-plasmid. The transfer of the entire chromosome, such as E. coli, takes about 100 minutes. Complete chromosome transfer happens rarely because of rare spontaneous integration of the F-plasmid into the chromosome of E. coli, which has all the necessary genes for further transfer processes.

The transduction is the process of transfer of genetic material from one bacterium to another by viruses, as opposed to transformation, which is the process of transfer of genetic material from the environment to bacterial cell without the participation of viruses.