11-26-2015, 12:28 AM
(11-25-2015, 04:24 AM)fredtoast Wrote: How do these bacteria pass genetic traits to another bacteria?
Bacteria multiply by splitting, not by breeding with other bacteria.
That's only one method by which bacteria multiply. They can also transmit a separate loop of genetic material called a plasmid to other bacteria via a process called bacterial conjugation...a kind of bacterial sex if you will. The problem is that so many strains of bacteria are so similar, that they can transfer this material to other similar bacteria that aren't even exactly the same strain as themselves.
https://highered.mheducation.com/sites/9834092339/student_view0/chapter28/bacterial_conjugation_-_transfer_of_a_plasmid.html
