What role do bacteriophages play in gene transfer?
Practice Questions
Q1
What role do bacteriophages play in gene transfer?
They cause mutations
They facilitate transduction
They promote conjugation
They inhibit transformation
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What role do bacteriophages play in gene transfer?
Step 1: Understand what bacteriophages are. They are viruses that specifically infect bacteria.
Step 2: Learn about transduction. This is a process where genetic material is transferred from one bacterium to another.
Step 3: Know how bacteriophages help in transduction. When a bacteriophage infects a bacterium, it can accidentally take some of the bacterium's DNA with it.
Step 4: Realize that when this bacteriophage infects another bacterium, it can inject the DNA it carried from the first bacterium into the second one.
Step 5: Understand that this transfer of DNA can lead to new traits in the second bacterium, which is how gene transfer occurs.
