This article was originally published with the title “ The Recognition of DNA in Bacteria ” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 222 No. 1 (January 1970), p. 88 doi:10.1038 ...

Before we understood that DNA was the genetic code, scientists knew that bacteria transferred it between cells. In 1928, 25 years before the structure of DNA was solved, British bacteriologist ...

Genome sequencing reveals that such horizontal transfer of DNA has been profoundly important in the history of life, and among bacteria it’s especially common, with particular implications for ...

Today, scientists know that the Okazaki fragments of bacterial DNA are typically between 1,000 and 2,000 nucleotides long, whereas in eukaryotic cells, they are only about 100 to 200 nucleotides long.

Encoded within this DNA are the directions for traits as diverse as the color of a person's eyes, the scent of a rose, and the way in which bacteria infect a lung cell. DNA is found in nearly all ...