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Conjugation

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

Synonyms

Bacteria; DNA transfer; Horizontal gene transfer; Mating; Ti plasmid; Transformation

Definition

Bacterial conjugation is the transfer of genetic information between bacterial cells by a bridge-like connection between two cells.

Introduction

Conjugation is a process that promotes DNA transfer from a donor to a recipient cell mediated by physical contact (Cavalli et al. 1953; Hayes 1953). Bacterial conjugation is the mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer between two bacterial cells. Conjugation represents a key constituent in the spreading of antibiotic and virulence genes to human pathogenic bacteria.

Usually, genes encoding a factor for conjugation are present in an extrachromosomal replicon termed a self-transmissible or conjugative plasmid. The conjugation is a phenomenon of fundamental evolutionary and ecological consequence. T-DNA of Ti plasmid-mediated transfer from Agrobacteriumspecies to plants appears to represent a novel form of bacterial conjugation (Lessl and...

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Correspondence to Mukesh Meena .

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Chittora, D. et al. (2022). Conjugation. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_274

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