SPL RF Aug 2021

Illustration of bacterial transduction, a horizontal gene transfer mechanism that can lead to antimicrobial resistance. This illustration depicts the transduction process, whereby bacteriophages can accidentally transfer antibiotic resistance genes from one bacterium to another. First, a phage attaches to a bacterium (top left), and injects its DNA into the cell, and uses the cell's machinery to fragment the cell's genome. The fragmented genome is then packaged into individual phages (yellow phages), and some (green phage) contain fragments of the bacterium's DNA which may contain antibiotic resistance genes. Bacterial cell lysis (centre, right) then releases all of the phages. The phage containing the antibiotic resistance genes then goes on to infect another bacterium (bottom left).