Feb 28, 2017 · Start by streaking a vertical line of bacteria along one edge of the plate. Then streak horizontal lines in another section of the plate, and then diagonal lines in another section of the plate. Make sure that the first line (and only the first) in each new section crosses at least one line of the previous section so that it will contain some bacteria. The process of horizontal gene transfer (otherwise known as HGT) can be described as one organism acquiring the DNA of another organism. This can be observed in many types of organisms but is usually performed by prokaryotic organisms - mainly bacteria.
This is known as vertical gene transfer. The widespread development of multi-drug resistance in many species of bacteria simultaneously led scientists to believe that another mechanism beyond spontaneous mutation was responsible for the acquisition of antibiotic resistance. Aug 11, 2018 · NPR's Scott Simon asks science writer David Quammen about horizontal gene transfer and how it changes how we think about humankind's place in the world. Quammen's new book is The Tangled Tree. Gene transfer refers to the transfer of DNA containing functional genes between any two organisms. This exchange occurs naturally as well as artificially, and is of two types - horizontal and vertical. These types are discussed and differentiated in the following BiologyWise article.