In the 1920s, Frederick Griffith conducted an experiment in which he mixed the dead cells of a bacterial strain that can cause pneumonia with live cells of a bacterial strain that cannot. When he cultured the live cells, some of the daughter colonies proved able to cause pneumonia. Which of the following processes of bacterial DNA transfer does this experiment demonstrate?

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The experiment demonstrates the process of transformation, where the dead cells of the bacterial strain that can cause pneumonia release their DNA into the environment. The live cells of the bacterial strain that cannot cause pneumonia can then take up this released DNA and incorporate it into their own genome, making them pathogenic. This transformation process is the basis for genetic engineering techniques used today. The other options, transduction, conjugation, and transposition involve different mechanisms for DNA transfer in bacteria.

In the 1920s, Frederick Griffith Conducted an Experiment in Which