Figure 5: Autotransduction model.
From: Bacterial viruses enable their host to acquire antibiotic resistance genes from neighbouring cells
(A) Spontaneous phage induction mediated by RecA cleavage of the CI phage repressor from a subpopulation of a lysogenic bacterial population allows the phage to infect a susceptible co-existing bacterial population. (B) Propagation on the susceptible population and subsequent lysis releases phage progeny along with low numbers of transducing particles. (C) Owing to immunity to its own phages, the lysogenic population can ‘filter out’ the infective phage progeny and allow the occasional transducing particle to deliver its DNA to the lysogenic population by autotransduction.
