| Accession | GenProp0018 |
| Name | natural transformation |
| Type | PHENOTYPIC |
| Description | This property describes the phenomenon of an organism's ablilty to acquire and integrate exogenous DNA. In general, this process occurs only under some environmental conditions, requiring the action of certain specific proteins. In a number of species, transformation is enabled during a state termed competence, where a number of competence proteins have been described [1]. Failure to induce competence under laboratory conditions or to detect homologs of known competence proteins does not necessarily mean that no natural transformation can occur. Note that some species, including Haemophilus influenzae, have many copies of a DNA update recognition sequence in their DNA and preferentially take up DNA that contains these sequences. E. coli does not show competence for natural transformation but has homologs of many competence genes. It is suggested that DNA is imported for nutrition [2]. Additionally, low frequency plasmid transformation enabled by a specific recognition sequence was shown [3]. |
| Parent Property | GenProp0076: DNA handling
|
| Literature References | [ 1 ]Dubnau D. DNA uptake in bacteria. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1999;53:217-44. PMID 10547691
[ 2 ]Finkel SE, Kolter R. DNA as a nutrient: novel role for bacterial competence gene homologs. J Bacteriol. 2001 Nov;183(21):6288-93. PMID 11591672
[ 3 ]Tsen SD, Fang SS, Chen MJ, Chien JY, Lee CC, Tsen DH. Natural plasmid transformation in Escherichia coli. J Biomed Sci. 2002 May-Jun;9(3):246-52. PMID 12065899
|
|
| Gene Ontology Term | GO:0009294: DNA mediated transformation (biological_process)
|
