MICRO-C-OMICS # 8: Lets Exchange Some Genes- Conjugation
Microorganisms can exchange genetic information, a process commonly called Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT). Microorganisms do it to adapt changing environments and to evolve so that they can survive. Yet, HGT can also affect our survival, both in a good and bad ways. While transfer of antibiotic resistance genes turns into s a major health crisis, transfer of pollutant degrading genes, for example, helps us to clean the environment. (And we can also make shiny bacteria in the lab to experiment with)
One horizontal gene transfer mechanism is conjugation. It is mediated by the pilus, which is a hair like structure attached to the bacterial cell (indeed pilus means hair in Latin!). During conjugation, the bacterium extends its pilus to capture the other bacterium and retracts the pilus until both bacteria touch each other. Then, the plasmid, which is a small circular DNA fragment, is transferred through the pore at the contact site. Once the plasmid is transferred, the other cell has the same trait that is coded in the plasmid DNA.
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