Suppose you want to study the transfer of a plasmid containing a gene for ampicillin resistance from a donor strain to a recipient strain. Unlike the donor strain which is resistant to ampicillin, the recipient strain is sensitive to ampicillin and lacked the plasmid.

To test the transfer of the plasmid, you perform an interrupted mating experiment where samples are taken at various time intervals and plated on a selective medium containing ampicillin to identify transconjugants.

What will you expect from the number of transconjugants over time provided that the transfer of the plasmid is successful?

• A. There is a gradual increase
• B. There is a gradual decrease
• C. The number of transconjugants should be constant
• D. None of the options is correct