Transduction is the mechanism by which fragments of chromosomal DNA are introduced into a cell through the use of a virus, otherwise known as a bacteriophage. Transduction can be classified into two categories; generalized and specialized transduction. The difference between generalized and specialized transduction is that specialized transduction transfers a restricted set of bacterial genes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Generalized transduction is the action in which bacterial DNA is accidentally inserted into a capsid and then transferred into another cell where recombination occurs. In this experiment we focus on generalized transduction; bacteriophage P1vir is used to transduce E-coli K-12 as a recipient strain with a nagC-tetR mutation. The process of generalized transduction begins when the donor cell undergoes the lytic cycle and is infected with a virus. Proteins in the bacteriophage's tail adhere to a specific receptor on the surface of the donor cell, causing the phage to inject its DNA into the cell's cytoplasm. Once the phage DNA is in the donor cell, the redundant terminal ends of the bacteriophage DNA undertake site-specific recombination resulting in genome circulation. The single genome is packaged into newly synthesized phage heads and reproduces numerous copies of the bacteriophage throughout the donor cell. circular replication mode. Cleavage of the bacteriophage genome occurs at the Pac, a specific sequence on bacterial DNA. A second cleavage occurs at a specific distance from the Pac to produce a larger genome molecule. The enzyme Nuclease is expressed by the bacterial genome which cuts DNA into random fragments. This is significant because the DNA fragments of the bacterial genome will have a similar shape to the bacteriophage genome and therefore the bacterial genome will be inserted into a capsid. The enzymes that package bacteriophage DNA cannot distinguish between bacterial and phage DNA. Therefore, there are phage head capsids that contain bacterial DNA transduction particles that can result in defective bacteriophages or transduction particles. This is because transduction can only occur when bacterial DNA is packaged into the phage head. Capsids containing bacterial DNA become transducer particles, and capsids with bacteriophage DNA become defective. The bacterial cell is lysed to release the bacteriophage into the cytoplasm, this happens when phage proteins create holes in the plasma membrane and cell wall. Once this occurs, water diffuses into the cell causing it to become turgid and eventually burst. This releases the bacteriophage into the surrounding environment allowing it to infect other cells. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Assay Linear bacterial DNA must experience two homologous recombination events with the host genome for transduction to occur two homologous recombination events between the host cell genome and the bacterial cell genome to produce a transducer. A section of the host cell's DNA is replaced by bacterial DNA, thereby altering the host cell's genome so that the inserted bacterial DNA can be passed on to other cells.