Transformation

Transformation is the uptake of free DNA from the environment by a cell. In bacteria, acquired DNA can become heritable if it is maintained or integrated.

Natural competence: A physiological state in which a cell can take up extracellular DNA. Competence supplies the cellular machinery that makes natural transformation possible.
Horizontal gene transfer: The movement of genetic material between organisms outside parent-to-offspring inheritance. Transformation is one of its three major mechanisms in bacteria.
Frederick Griffith: A British bacteriologist whose 1928 experiments showed that hereditary traits could pass between pneumococcal bacteria. His experiments first demonstrated bacterial transformation without identifying its substance.
Bacterial genetics: The study of heredity, variation, and gene function in bacteria. Transformation lets researchers introduce genetic changes into bacterial strains.
DNA uptake: The transport of DNA across a cell envelope into a cell. This is the membrane-crossing step at the center of transformation.
Deoxyribonucleic acid: A molecule that stores hereditary information in most organisms. Transformation transfers this molecule between cells or from the environment into a cell.
Oswald Avery: A physician and researcher who helped establish DNA as the transforming material in pneumococcus. His group tested which molecule carried the transforming activity.
Genetic engineering: The deliberate alteration of an organism’s genetic material using laboratory methods. Laboratory transformation is a common way to introduce engineered DNA into cells.
Homologous recombination: Exchange of DNA between molecules with matching or closely related sequences. It can integrate imported DNA into the recipient chromosome.
Bacterial cell: A single-celled organism without a membrane-bound nucleus. Bacteria are the best-studied organisms that naturally acquire DNA by transformation.

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