Phage Transduction

Transduction DNA fragments are taken up by a bacteriophage and transferred to a second organism when the phage infects it. 

Transduction. Genetic exchange in bacteria that is mediated via phage. 

Transduction involves the introduction of new genetic information via a bacteriophage (a virus that infects bacteria). In this situation the bacteriophage contains DNA, which can carry a gene for drug resistance. Transductive transfer of phage DNA is particularly important for the development of resistance among strains of S. aureus that become endowed with the ability to synthesize penicillinase. 

DNA transfer of drug resistance Of particular clinical concern is resistance acquired due to DNA transfer from one organism to another. Resistance properties are usually encoded in extrachro-mosomal R factors (plasmids). These may enter cells by processes such as transduction (phage-mediated), transformation or, most importantly, bacterial conjugation. 

Already in 1965, Ryser and Hancock provided evidence that histones and polyamino acids could greatly enhance albumin uptake by cultured tumor cells (6). More recently, several polybasic peptides (so-called protein transduction domains, PTDs or cell-penetrating peptides, CPPs) have been shown to efficiently mediate uptake of nucleic acids, bioactive peptides, phage particles, and liposomes into a wide variety of mammalian cells. The initially proposed ability of CPPs to penetrate plasma membranes via a temperature-independent, non-endocytotic pathway was later shown to be a fixation artifact, and it is currently widely accepted that CPP-mediated macromolecular delivery follows energy-dependent endocytotic pathways that in most cases depend on the expression of cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) (7). 

Transduction is the term for the transfer of genes from one bacterium to another by bacteriophage particles. The amount of DNA that can be transferred is limited by the size of the DNA that can be carried within the phage head. The specificity of the bacteriophage for receptors on the host bacterium limits any role of transduction in the transfer of DNA between species of bacteria. However, the protection of the labile DNA molecule by the phage coat... 

Transduction, when bacterial DNA that was accidentally packaged into a phage particle is introduced by infection. 

S. Zozulya, M. Lioubin, R. J. Hill, C. Abram and M. L. Gishizky, Mapping signal transduction pathways by phage display, Nature Biotechnology, 17 (1999), 1193-1198. 

Horizontal DNA transfer Several kb up to hundreds of kb Transformation Conjugation Transduction (phage-mediated) Increase of total genetic information content Gene silencing... 

Figure 3. The development of an isoleucine-producing strain from S. marcescens strain 8000. Key , phage-mediated transduction M, nitrosoguanidine mutagenesis.

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