Practice question

Transduction was discovered by Zinder and Lederberg in Salmonella as gene transfer mediated by bacteriophages. During lytic cycle, phage enzymes mistakenly package host chromosomal DNA into capsid instead of phage genome, creating transducing particle. Upon infection of new cell, bacterial DNA injects and recombines. Generalized transduction packages random host fragments due to pac site errors; specialized transduction arises when prophage excises imprecisely bringing adjacent bacterial genes. Both depend on phage as vector, distinguishing transduction from naked DNA transformation or contact-dependent conjugation.