Transduction is the movement of DNA between bacterial cells via phage (or virus) particles. Under the normal course of the phage life-cycle, the viral DNA is injected into a bacterial cell and then is either incorporated into the bacterial genome (lysogenic cycle) or remains as a separate genome in the cell (lytic cycle).
Genes are transfer by transduction when a mistake is made at the time of excision of the phage from the bacterial genome (from bacterial host A), or during packaging of the phage coat with DNA (see diagram*). In both cases, the virus particles now contain DNA from bacterial host A. When the virus then infects new cells (bacterial host B), these pieces of DNA from bacteria A end up in bacteria B.
This method of transporting genes around the virtual genome is thought to be limited because many phage will often only bind to specific species or a small, closely related group of bacteria.
Transduction is the process by which DNA is transferred from one bacterium to another by a virus. It also refers to the process whereby foreign DNA is introduced into another cell via a viral vector. This is a common tool used by molecular biologists to stably introduce a foreign gene into a host cell's genome. - modified from wikipedia
back to: horizontal gene transfer, HGT : transformation : conjugation
