Question
Question: What does bacterial transformation involve?...
What does bacterial transformation involve?
Solution
Transformation in genetics is the process by which a cell incorporates a bit of external DNA into its own DNA. This is used in molecular biology studies for DNA cloning, to check DNA expression, also to produce human proteins and so on.
Complete answer:
Bacteria are microorganisms that are used commonly in genetic studies. Bacterial transformation is a process by which external DNA is taken up by a bacteria and incorporated into its DNA.
There are two types of transformation in bacteria, artificial and natural transformation. However, there are a few steps to this process. First, the bacteria needs to take up the external DNA. In artificial transformation, this is done by heat shocking or electroporation which increases the permeability of the bacterial membrane. In natural transformation, the bacteria can take the DNA from other bacteria.
Once the DNA is inside the bacteria it is incorporated into the bacterial DNA. This can be done by allowing the bacteria to take up DNA fragments or In some cases, the external DNA is put into a plasmid and then the entire plasmid will be taken up by the bacteria. Both of these forms of transformation are used in genetic studies.
Note:
Bacterial transformation is a process of genetic recombination where an external piece of DNA is taken up into a bacteria and incorporated into its DNA. This process can be used for gene cloning and a variety of other genetic studies.