Which mechanism of horizontal gene transfer relies on the use of viruses?
transduction
The mechanism of horizontal gene transfer that relies on the use of viruses is known as transduction. In this mechanism, viruses (bacteriophages) act as vectors and transfer genetic information from one bacterium to another during the process of viral replication.
During transduction, a bacteriophage infects a bacterial cell and replicates within the cell. During viral replication, the virus may accidentally package a fragment of bacterial DNA (rather than its own genetic material) into its capsid. This fragment may contain one or more genes. When the virus infects another bacterial cell, the genetic material is transferred to the recipient cell, where it may integrate into the recipient cell’s genome and become expressed. Thus, transduction can transfer genes between bacteria that are not related and do not have the capacity to directly exchange DNA through other mechanisms, such as conjugation or transformation.
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