— Florida residents know that we share the state with a large alligator population — an estimated 1.3 million to be exact! And while that can be scary, alligators are fundamental to the state's wetlands.
Bacterial conjugation is the bacterial counterpart of sexual reproduction. Also known as horizontal gene transfer, it involves the transfer of genetic material from one F+ or Hfr bacterium to another F+ or F- bacterium.
The F or fertility factor is a crucial component of the bacterial plasmid and it accounts for the development of sex pili which are important for conjugation. An F+ cells contains the F-factor incorporated into its plasmid, whereas an F- cell lacks the F-factor and therefore cannot participate in conjugation.
Conjugation between an F+ and F- cell can result in the transfer of the F-factor to the F- bacterium.
An Hfr bacterium contains F-factor incorporated into its circular genome.
