Question

What is conjugation? Who discovered it and in which organism?

Answer 1

Hint: Bacteria is a small microscopic organism and they have the ability to reproduce via binary fission. Conjugation is commonly seen in bacteria as a mode of horizontal transmission for exchange of genetic material.

Complete answer:
Conjugation is a process that promotes DNA transfer from a donor to a recipient cell by making bridge-like connections between two cells. Conjugation is a process that promotes DNA transfer from a donor to a recipient cell mediated by physical contact. Bacterial conjugation is the mechanism of horizontal gene transfer between two bacterial cells.

Conjugation represents a key constituent in the spreading of antibiotic and virulence genes to human pathogenic bacteria. A separate, non-chromosomal DNA ring, known as an F-plasmid, is separated into two strands, and one of them transferred to the recipient bacteria.

Usually genes encoding a factor for conjugation are present in an extra chromosomal replicons term as self-transmissible or conjugative plasmid. The conjugation is the phenomenon of fundamental evolutionary and ecological sequence. T-DNA of Ti plasmid mediated transfer from Agrobacterium species to plant appears to represent a novel form of bacterial conjugation.

The mechanism of conjugation can be divided into three fundamental components coupling protein relaxum and a type of IV protein secretion system. The conjugation is discovered by Lederberg and Tatum. They showed that the bacterium Escherichia coli entered a sexual phase during which it could share genetic information.

Note: Conjugation presents many dangers as well, because the process of in vivo bacterial conjugation cannot be entirely controlled by the scientists, accidental horizontal gene transfer is cause for concern. If the AMP gene were transferred to the natural bacterial Flora they too would be damaged upon promoter activation.