16. Microbial Genetics

Which of the following statements is true?

a. Conjugation requires a sex pilus extending from the surface of a cell.

b. Conjugation involves a C factor.

c. Conjugation is an artificial genetic engineering technique.

d. Conjugation involves DNA that has been released into the environment.

How is conjugation different from the two other forms of horizontal gene transfer, transformation and transduction?

Normally a commensal in the human intestine, this bacterium became pathogenic after acquiring a toxin gene from a Shigella bacterium.