Conjugation = Bacterial Sex!
Doesn't this just sound oh-so-wrong?
"We speculate that the pilus appendage could work as a needle, thrusting the substrate proteins to cross one or several membrane barriers into the recipient cytoplasm. This is the first step in conjugation.
The second step is the active pumping of the DNA to the recipient, using the already available
T4SS transport conduit. It is proposed that this second step is catalysed by the coupling proteins. Our ‘shoot and pump’ model solves the protein-DNA transport paradox of T4SS."
Biology smut.
- Kalika
"We speculate that the pilus appendage could work as a needle, thrusting the substrate proteins to cross one or several membrane barriers into the recipient cytoplasm. This is the first step in conjugation.
The second step is the active pumping of the DNA to the recipient, using the already available
T4SS transport conduit. It is proposed that this second step is catalysed by the coupling proteins. Our ‘shoot and pump’ model solves the protein-DNA transport paradox of T4SS."
Biology smut.
- Kalika