In this video, we're going to talk more details about generalized transduction. Recall from our previous lesson video that generalized transduction is one of the two main types of transduction. Generalized transduction is when the transducing particle only contains bacterial DNA, but it does not contain phage or viral DNA. Now, generalized transduction is called generalized because it's capable of transferring any of the general genes of the donor bacterial cell. The reason that this is able to occur is because when the original bacteriophage infects the donor cell, it constructs new phage particles, but it will also construct transducing particles by mistake. These transducing particles, made in error, are going to contain any of the general genes of the donor bacterial cell. Once the transducing particle has been made, it can then attach to a recipient cell and inject that donor DNA that was accidentally packaged into it, and then that donor DNA can integrate into the cell's chromosome.

If we take a look at our image below, we can get a better understanding of generalized transduction. Notice over here on the left, we're showing you the formation of the transducing particle. It starts off with a bacteriophage, a virus that injects phage DNA. Then the virus begins to replicate and form viral proteins. More viral proteins and phages will be made that contain phage DNA, which is in green. But also, occasionally, a mistake can be made where the transducing particle is formed, where bacterial or donor DNA from the bacteria can be accidentally integrated into the phage, thus forming the transducing particle. The transducing particle can then carry out transduction. It binds to the recipient cell, and the donor DNA that was accidentally packaged into the transducing particle enters the recipient cell. You can see the donor DNA being injected and entering into the recipient cell. That donor DNA can then integrate into the recipient's chromosome. You can see in this image that the integrated donor DNA originally came from another bacterial cell. The way it was horizontally transferred was via a bacteriophage, a transducing particle. This is why this process is called transduction because it involves phages.

This concludes our brief lesson on generalized transduction and how it can transfer any of the general genes of the donor bacterial cell. We'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts of general transduction as we move forward, and then we'll learn about specialized transduction. Recall that generalized transduction only contains bacterial DNA and does not contain viral DNA. I'll see you all in our next video.