Conjugation

Conjugation is the direct transfer of DNA from one cell to another through physical contact. In bacteria, it commonly moves plasmids through a specialized transfer apparatus.

Conjugative plasmid: A plasmid that carries genes enabling its transfer between cells by conjugation. It supplies the transfer machinery and DNA-processing signals needed for plasmid transfer.
Horizontal gene transfer: The movement of genetic material between organisms other than by inheritance from parent to offspring. Conjugation is one of its major mechanisms in bacteria.
Transformation (genetics): The genetic alteration of a cell through uptake of extracellular DNA. Transformation acquires free DNA rather than DNA delivered through cell contact.
F plasmid: An Escherichia coli plasmid that encodes the machinery for bacterial conjugation. It provides the best-known model for plasmid-mediated mating.
Type IV secretion system: A multiprotein apparatus that transports molecules across cell envelopes, often between cells. Many conjugative systems use this apparatus to move DNA across the donor envelope.
Antibiotic resistance: The ability of microbes to survive exposure to antimicrobial drugs that would normally inhibit or kill them. Conjugative plasmids can carry and disseminate resistance genes between bacteria.
Transduction (genetics): The transfer of genetic material between cells by a virus, especially a bacteriophage. Transduction uses viral particles as carriers instead of direct cellular contact.
Hfr cell: A bacterial cell whose F factor is integrated into its chromosome and can initiate chromosomal DNA transfer. Its integrated transfer origin can carry nearby chromosome genes into a recipient.
Relaxosome: A protein–DNA complex that assembles at a plasmid's origin of transfer and initiates DNA processing. It prepares the plasmid strand that enters the recipient.
Bacterial artificial chromosome: A cloning vector derived from a bacterial plasmid that can carry large DNA inserts in bacteria. Conjugation can deliver large engineered DNA constructs into bacterial recipients.

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